


Fostering

by MissAllySwan



Category: Sarah Jane Adventures
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Child Abuse, Clyde Langer (SJA) - Freeform, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Family, Family Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Maria Jackson (SJA) - Freeform, Original Character(s), Past Child Abuse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-23
Updated: 2020-06-27
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:27:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 14
Words: 69,038
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24342778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissAllySwan/pseuds/MissAllySwan
Summary: AU: After saving the Archetype, Sarah Jane was prepared to take him. But he ends up being taken into child services. Months later and she tries to move on, but then she saves him again; this time from his abusive foster parents.
Comments: 8
Kudos: 6





	1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I don't own Sarah Jane Adventures. I only own my OCs and the plot.**

* * *

Sarah Jane's POV

We did it. We actually did it. The three of us managed to stop them. "I'm free!" He exclaimed and I gave him a hug. "This is good, right?" He asks and I nodded.

"Oh yes, that's good!"

"So what's going to happen to him?" Maria asked me after we had finished initially celebrating. I frowned. That was a good question. What could we do with him? He has no family and nowhere to go. I looked at him, whom now looked sad.

"This is bad?" He asks and I shook my head.

"You can come stay with me. At least for a little while." I tell him and he smiles a bit. And I did too. I had never been a mother or anything like that before, but I was sure I could manage; at least for a little while.

_But it didn't last long. Not for as long as I thought it would._

* * *

I had gotten him some new clothes that were fit for a boy his age that afternoon. Then I invited Maria over that evening so we could officially celebrate. The three of us were drinking some lemonade while trying to come up with a good name to give him when a woman came over.

"Hello, I'm from social services." The woman introduced herself. I stood up abruptly after glancing at Maria and the boy as she walked into my garden.

"What are you doing here?" I asked. “Who are you?”

"I'm here to take the boy to get him sorted into a children's home." She explained. How did she know about him? And how did she even know I had him? I went over to her and asked for her to explain the situation. Apparently there were cameras in the factory and there was some footage. Only enough for them to gather that he was a child that they were experimenting on, whom now needed a proper home.

"I guess staying here with me isn't an option?" I asked and she shook her head.

"Unless you are a licensed foster parent, I'm afraid not." She says, sounding sincere. "Thank you for looking after him until we could come out, Miss..."

"Smith. Sarah Jane Smith." I told her and then looked back and saw that Maria had left and it was just him. "Can I have a few minutes alone with him first? I think he would rather hear this from me." The woman reluctantly nodded. I watched as she leaves my garden to go wait out on my driveway. I sighed, glancing back at him. I had told him he could stay with me for at least a little while. I didn't think his time here would be cut so short.

I walked back over to him and sat next to him. "I have to go with her, don't I?" He asks and I nod slowly. "Why? Why do I have to go?" I wish had an answer; a good answer. In all honesty, I didn't want him to go. I know what I said earlier. I had said that I didn't think he should stay here with me but I was wrong. Now I was realizing the idea of him staying with me wasn't such a bad idea. It actually would be the best thing for him, considering what he is. And it would be nice to maybe have someone else in the house.

" _Legally_ they have to put you in a proper children's home because you don't have any parents." It all came down to what was legal.

"I want to stay here. I want to stay with you." He protested and that just made this even harder.

"I'm sorry but you can't."

"Why not? I don't understand." The world was already so new to him. He was confused about everything as it is and now we had this; this just made it so much harder. I wish I would have had Mr. Smith check the cameras and erase any and all footage.

"I'm not a foster parent and they can't let you stay here if I'm not a foster parent." I wasn’t sure if he would even understand that. But it was the best answer I could give him.

"What if they don't like me? What if they do stuff like they did to me?" I honestly didn't have the answers. I wish I did. I wish I could just tell him he could stay here and I would take care him. But I couldn't.

"You'll be okay." I reassured him because it's the only thing I could do now. I looked at him and I could tell that he didn't really believe me. I put my hand on his shoulder and he looked at me, with obvious tears in his eyes. It honestly made me want to cry. He was so scared and confused; and there was nothing I could do to make this better. "You remember my phone number?"

He nodded. "I don't forget anything." He reminded me.

"If you ever need me, just call. Anytime." Though it was something, I knew it wasn't the same. I walked him out and then he stopped me before we got to the car.

"What would you have named your son if you had one?"

"Luke." I answered. I have always loved the name; even when I was a little girl. I always told myself when I had kids, I would name my son that. But it never happened; _it would never happen_.

We walk over to the car and the woman crouches down so she can speak to him eye to eye. "My name is Emily and we're going to put you with a nice family, okay?" The boy didn’t move or say anything. "Can you tell me your name?" Before I could speak, he did.

"Luke."

I looked up upon hearing that. I felt happy for a split second, but that faded away with sadness as I remembered what was happening; he wasn't my son; once they left I would probably never see him again. I know what he wanted and what I wanted, but it seemed as that would never happen. But maybe it's better he have a normal life; one he could never have with me. I was about to walk away when I felt arms around me. I looked down to see him with his arms around me tightly.

"I don't want to go." I heard his voice break and I run my hand through his hair. I felt tears building up in my eyes, but fought them off. I wasn't going to cry.

"I know. But it'll be okay.” I could only reassure him. “You have to. You'll go with her. You'll get to be with a family and have a good normal life." I tell him as I wiped the tears from his eyes. "And I'm here, if you need me." I whispered to him and he nodded, understanding.

"Goodbye, Sarah Jane.” Was the last thing he said to me before getting in the backseat of Emily’s navy Suburu.

"Goodbye Luke." Then Emily walks over to me. I wish she hadn't because I wasn't sure how long I would be able to hold myself together.

"I might be able to keep him at the home for a little while. It only takes a month or so to become a foster parent, if I give a little nudge." Emily hands me her business card. "Call me if you're interested."

I watched as the car drove away and then went inside. I just really hope he'll be okay.


	2. Finding Luke

**Disclaimer: I do not own SJA. I only own my plot and OCs.**

* * *

Sarah Jane's POV

I got home from chasing a story to a voicemail from Emily.

_Hello Sarah Jane, this is Emily from social services. I just wanted to let you know, well congratulate you. You're now officially a foster parent. Just call me when you get this and we can discuss getting a child placed with you or if you have any questions. Thanks. Bye._

It didn't matter now. It had been two months now and I knew that he had been placed with a family about a month ago. It didn't take too long for him to get placed with a family. Even with Emily's attempts to keep him in the children's home. It didn't surprise me. Even though I didn't know him for more than a day, he was special. Even if those parents don’t know it yet, or if they would ever know, but he—Luke was special.

Though I have wanted kids, I wasn't sure if I would go through with this now. I did it in hopes of maybe getting him to stay here like we had planned, but it didn't look like that would happen. I could easily get another kid brought in, but I knew I would just think about Luke and that wouldn't be fair to the child.

They're probably better off not being involved in my life, anyways. It's dangerous. I couldn't give up my life with the aliens. That's been my life since I can remember and I don't want to give that up. I can't. Someone has to protect earth when The Doctor can’t. That is my life. It's what saved lives. It's what gave Luke a chance at having a life here; and I am not giving that up any time soon.

I go up to the attic and have Mr. Smith come out.

"How may I help you Sarah Jane?" He asks.

"Do you detect any Slitheen life on Earth?" I ask. Maria and I both had a run in with a family a few weeks back and I just wanted to make sure there wasn't anybody left behind.

"Negative, Sarah Jane."

I did a few more things and that would have been it, but I kept thinking about him.

"Is there something else you need, Sarah Jane?" Mr. Smith asks.

"Has there been any calls or messages?" I ask.

"No."

I sighed. That's what I thought. That's what it's been like for the last month. Nothing. I remember Luke would call every day. And I kind of miss it. No, I do miss it. Though he didn't live here, it was nice to hear from him and I think he liked talking to me; probably because I was the only one who understood what he was. But then the calls stopped. I assumed that was because he got placed with a family. He probably was happy with his new family. He's living the life that he deserves and I shouldn't get in the way.

"Thank you, Mr. Smith." I say.

"Is something wrong, Sarah Jane?" He asks and I shake my head. "Does it have something to do with the boy?"

"That'll be all, Mr. Smith." I say and then go into my bedroom. I didn't want to talk about it. It would just make me miss him more and I couldn't. I shouldn't. I knew that I had to move on and stop thinking about him, but I couldn't. Though I knew eventually I would have to because he has his own life. His own family. I wasn't a part of his life and he wasn't a part of mine anymore.

* * *

I decided to get out of the house. The more I was in there, the more I thought about him. I needed to start moving on or at least make an effort in that. And maybe getting out would help.

I went to the market, as I needed to get a few things anyways. I grabbed what I needed and turned around as I thought I heard someone's voice. A voice that I knew. But nobody I knew was in sight.

_I must be imagining it._

I went back into the dairy isle to get butter and yogurt when I looked over and saw him.

It was Luke. He was in the isle in front of me with adult whom was small and wide, wearing something that was too tight for her. Then she started yelling and then I saw her take something out of the cart and smash it over his head

I gasped. There were a thousand questions running through my head. But all I could do was stand there and stare at the scene. Luke was on the floor with shattered glass, olives, and liquid was all around him as well as on him. He tried to pick himself up, but was struggling. I wanted to just run over and help but I couldn’t move. I just—I didn’t even know what to think.

_What just happened?_

"Hey! Are you going to pay for that!?" She turned around to the man, whom working on restocking the shelves until he, like myself, saw what happened. Why wasn't he concerned for Luke? I then looked down and saw that he was looking directly at me and then when he started to move, the woman start yelling and moved towards him. That was when he quickly moved and then went over to me.

"P-Please. Pl-Please Sarah J-Jane." He stuttered as he hid behind me, glancing at the woman coming closer to us. "He-Help me."

"You know better than to talk to strangers!" She yelled and I looked from her to Luke who cringed and was now shaking. I could see how terrified he was and now that I could get a good look at his face, I saw multiple cuts and bruises.

"It's okay. I know him." I say and as the woman turned around to watch the worker clean up the mess she made, I mouthed to woman next to me to call the police. I was not going to let her take him away. I was not letting him go this time.

"Come on, let's get going." She says, talking to Luke. I look at him and watch as he shakes his head and hides behind me. "Let’s go, NOW!" She yells more loudly this time which attracts more people. Now ten, maybe more had eyes on the woman, Luke, and I and no one was doing anything. All they did was stand there and watch, some out of the corner of their eyes, some tried to pretend they weren't watching, though I knew they were, and then some were just staring. They were all waiting to see how this turned out, though nobody was doing anything; no one was going to help him.

"I'm sorry, but would you help me out?" She asks me.

I look down at Luke who looked scared to death. I could see he was hurt; she had to be hurting him and I knew that jar of olives wasn't the first time she did something like that to him. By watching him cringe at her words, I knew it probably happened a lot.

"No." I say as I put my hand on his shoulder which told him to stay behind me.

"EXCUSE ME?!" She raised her voice.

"No. I won't let you hurt him." I say and picks up something from inside her cart and hit me with it. It hurt like a bitch, but I didn't let that stop me. I don't care if this killed me, I wasn't letting her take Luke.

Someone had to stop this. Someone had to help him.

She hit me again and again. I think it wasn't until after the fifth time that the police came and pulled her away from Luke and I. We were then taken outside to an ambulance because we were hurt. And almost immediately, Luke clung to me. He hung onto my arm as we sat down and the doctor took a look at me. When they asked to take a look at Luke, it took five minutes of trying to calm him down until he let the doctor look at the cut on his forehead. They put a bandage on it, knowing Luke wouldn't let them do much to him in his current state and it wasn't very deep. After they left us, Luke buried his head into me and started to shake and sob. I wrapped my arms protectively around him and whispered to him. "She's never going to touch you again." I told him. "It’s okay, Luke. She can't hurt you anymore."

Then a tall man in a suit approached us. "My name is Matt and I'm with social services..." I cut him off there as I was not having a long conversation about this right now. Not with Luke like this.

"Yes and I know this is about placing him." I say and he nods. Before he could speak, I spoke up. "My name is Sarah Jane Smith and I know that Emily is the social worker assigned to his case. I'm a foster parent and I am taking him home with me." I say and he nods. I think it was not because I was a foster parent, but because right now, I was the only one Luke trusted.

"It's okay. I’m not going to let anyone hurt you." I tell him. "You're with me now. You're safe, Luke. You're safe."

I let him them take Luke from me once. I was not going to let that happen again; I had to protect him.


	3. First Night

**Disclaimer: I do not own SJA. Only my OCs and the plot.**

* * *

Sarah Jane's POV

The police questioned me about what happened in the store and then they had someone drive Luke and I back to my house. It felt like we had been there for hours, though it probably would have been quicker, but they wouldn't let us go until they got a statement on what happened from both myself and Luke. It took a while to get Luke to calm down enough so he could tell them what happened, how he knew me, and all that they needed to know.

Luke wouldn't leave my side. Even after we got in the car and were being driven back to Bannerman Road. He just held onto me tightly. "Where are they taking us?" Luke asks in a scared whisper.

"They are taking us home." I say, but then realized I should clarify since Luke's home for the past month was not somewhere he should be taken. And before that, it was the children's home; but I wasn't going to let them take him there either. They could place him with unfit adults again and I wasn't going to let that happen. "You remember my house right?"

Luke nods. "I-I don't forget anything." He says and I smile a bit. He looks up at me and I move the hair out of his face. It's gotten a bit longer since I last saw him, but I still couldn't help but look at the other marks on him; all the cuts and bruises. What have they been doing to him?

"Everything is going to be alright now." I tell him. "I won't let anything happen to you." I glanced out the window to see that we were in front of my house. We are home.

"We'll see about getting your car." The driver tells me.

"Thank you." I say as I get out the car with Luke. They wouldn't let me drive after what happened, but I guess that was a good thing since it wouldn't be good to drive with Luke hanging onto me like he was. "Come on." I said to Luke and we were about to go in when I heard someone call my name.

"Sarah Jane!" I turned around and saw Maria. Once she started to cross the road over to where Luke and I were standing, he quickly backed up behind me. "I heard what happened, are you alright?" She asks me.

"Yes, I'm fine. We're fine." I corrected myself. At least we would be okay in time. I knew Luke would have to adjust and I could definitely tell that it would be a while before he trusted people. "Luke, it's alright. It's just Maria. Remember?" I say and he looks at her and then takes a few steps forward.

"Um hello." Luke says and I see Maria smile.

"So what happened?" Maria asks.

"I'll tell you later, but I really do have my hands full at the moment." I say as I really wanted to get Luke inside. I knew he would probably feel better if we weren't around anymore people for today. Though he knew Maria and he seemed okay with her, I knew he wouldn't want to talk about today with her.

"Okay. See you later then." Maria said and then went back over the road.

"Come on, let’s go inside." I say and lead Luke inside.

Luke's POV

Sarah Jane told me to go inside and I stayed by the door after she closed it. I looked around and house looked the same as I remembered it. Everything was still in the same place, though it was a bit darker than it was last time.

"Come on." I look up at Sarah Jane, whom was now at the stairs.

"W-Where are we going?"

"To the attic." Sarah Jane says and then walks over to me. I feel her put her hand on my back and I wince at first. "You alright?" She asks me and I nodded. She didn't need to worry about it. "Anyways, you remember Mr. Smith, don't you?" She asks me and I nodded. Why did she keep asking me those type of questions? I don't forget anything. I still remember the number for the Bubbleshock! factory. But I didn't say anything. I always got punished for saying stuff like that. They called it back-talk. I wasn't going to do that. I didn't want Sarah Jane to get mad at me. She was the only person that was really nice to me and I didn't want that to change. I followed her up to the attic and there were a few more things in there than I remember from last time. "Mr. Smith, I need you." Sarah Jane says and I jumped, but relaxed when I realized it was just Mr. Smith coming out, just like he did when I was here the first time.

"Hello, Sarah Jane. I see we have a visitor." Mr. Smith says.

"Luke isn't visiting." Sarah Jane says. "He lives here now." I smile at hearing that and look up at her. I didn't want to leave. I really hope that woman Emily doesn't come and make me leave again.

"I see." Mr. Smith says. "How may I be of assistance?"

"I need you to scan, Luke. Make sure everything is okay." Sarah Jane says taking a step forward towards Mr. Smith. I frowned, taking a step back towards the door. Why did she want him to scan or do stuff to me?

Sarah Jane's POV

I turned back to see Luke had stepped back towards the door. "Hey, what's wrong?" I asked as he glanced at Mr. Smith and then back at me with this terrified look on his face.

"W-What is he going to do to me?" Luke asked, sounding scared.

"He's just scan you to make sure you're okay. I just want to make sure." I tell him, but it didn't look like that helped. Luke still looked scared. "It'll be alright, it won't hurt." I tell him as I lead him back over towards Mr. Smith. I stepped back as Mr. Smith started to scan him and then back over to him when he finished. "See, everything's okay." I tell Luke and rub his shoulder. "Well, Mr. Smith?"

"Accessing..." He says.

"Well while he does that, why don't I show you your room?" Luke nods and then I lead him to the room across from mine. It wasn't much right now, but I didn't exactly plan on this. "Here. You can change into these." I tell him handing him a clean T- Shirt and a pair of sweatpants. I had bought some things that day because I thought he would be staying with me and he couldn't exactly wear that thing he had been _born_ in. I guess it's a good thing I never returned them.

"I'll be right back." I say and then go back up to the attic to Mr. Smith. I had a feeling he didn't want to alarm Luke so he said he was accessing; I knew it didn't take that long for a scan.

"What are the results?"

"My scan detects that his anxiety levels are high." Mr. Smith tells me. "But it's to be expected."

"Okay. Thank you." Sarah Jane says. "Oh! Can you order some pizza for delivery?" I ask and Mr. Smith does as he is told. I sigh, thinking about what Mr. Smith told me. Luke was hurting. He was scared and in pain. I already knew that by the cuts in bruises, there might be more to it. He may have more than just those cuts and bruises. I went back down and knocked on his door before entering. I didn't want to walk in if he was still dressing. He turned around when I walked in and I smiled at him.

"Is this good?" Luke asks and I nod.

"Yes, this is good." I say and sit next to him on the bed. "Luke, does anything still hurt?" I asked and I watch as the smile on his face faded back to a frown. He then looked away from me, but after a moment he nodded. "Where? Can you show me?" I ask and Luke quickly shook his head and I noticed as his posture appeared to be tenser and he moved away a little bit. "It's okay, you don't have to." I say and I stop myself before placing my hand on his back. I didn't want to hurt him, so I put my hand on his shoulder instead. "Can you tell about what's happened in the last month? You don't have to if you don't want to. But I want to try and help you."

"Th-They seemed nice at first." Luke says after a moment of silence. "I met them at the children's home first and then Emily took me to their home and they were nice. They seemed nice; until Emily left." Luke wouldn't look at me as he spoke, but I kept my hand on his shoulder. "They made me work, th-they said I had to work for food. And whenever I did something wrong, they'd p-punish me. I didn't mean to--I-I" I pulled Luke into my arms as he began to cry. "They wo-wouldn't stop hurting m-me."

"Shh, it's alright." I told him softly as I ran my fingers through his hair. I just held Luke in my arms as he cried. How could anyone hurt a child? I knew Luke wasn't like most children and didn't understand certain things like most boys do at thirteen, but that didn't make it right. He's just an innocent child. How could anyone hurt a child for any reason? If it's anything like what I saw at the market today--I don't even want to think about what they've done to Luke. It makes me sick that anyone would hurt a child, especially someone like Luke; I knew whatever their reasons, it wasn't his fault.

"They can't hurt you anymore." I told him. "I won't let anyone hurt you, Luke."

"Wha-What if Emily comes to take me again?" Luke asks as he holds onto me tightly, much like he did that night when she came to take him.

"I won't let anyone take you from me." I tell him and then move him so he is looking at me. I want him to know that I was serious about this; Luke had to know that I would protect him. "I promise."

Luke smiles. I guess that meant he believed me.

The doorbell suddenly rang and Luke jumped in a startle. "It's alright, it's just the food." I tell him and then answer the door. I paid the man and took the food into the kitchen. I wasn't sure what Luke would like so I got two different ones just in case. I liked veggie, so I got one of those along with a cheese. As I was getting plates, I noticed Luke had walked in.

"What is it?" Luke asks.

"Pizza." I say, but I could tell Luke was still confused. How did I explain what pizza was?

"Is it good?" Luke asks.

"You'll have to find that out for yourself." I tell him. I couldn't tell him what he was going to like and dislike. He had to figure that out for himself. I gave him one of each and then a glass of water. We ate our pizza in silence and I put the rest away.

I noticed Luke looked tired and frankly, I was too. Today had been a day.

"I think it's time for bed." I say and I lead Luke up to his bedroom. He gets in bed and I tuck him in. I stroke his hair back once before turning out the light. Then as I got up to leave, I felt Luke pull me back. I looked back and saw him looking at me with these wide eyes. "What's wrong, Luke?"

"I-I nothing. It's nothing." Luke says, letting go of my arm and turning onto his side, facing away from me. I knew that wasn't nothing. I knew from that look that he was scared. I went over to the other side of his bed and sat down.

"I know that wasn't nothing. Now tell me what's wrong." I say and then move his hair out of his eyes just as he looks up at me.

"It's stupid." Luke says.

"I'm sure it's not." I say and try to figure out what it was. He seemed okay until I turned the lights off and was about leave, so that probably was something. It made sense, a new room and new place. It would be scary and though I didn't know this, I had a feeling that wasn't the only reason Luke was scared. I'd be surprised if those people Luke was placed with even gave him a proper room instead of having him sleep in a dark cellar.

"Would you feel better if I stayed with you for a bit?" I asked him and Luke nodded. "I'll stay until you fall asleep, but try and get some rest, okay?" Luke nodded and closed his eyes as I rubbed circles on his back.

Luke’s POV

I know it was stupid. I shouldn’t have said anything, but I was scared. I am scared. I don’t want to be alone again. Not in the dark. It was dark, not as dark as the basement, but it was dark. I didn’t like the dark.

Sarah Jane then said she was stay with me and I felt better. I felt her started to rub my back and I didn’t even care if she touched _that spot_. This just felt so nice. It was weird. I don’t know how to describe this. For the last month, I’ve never felt like this. I’ve felt nothing but the exact opposite.

I felt like how she said it would be; Okay.

I felt okay. I never felt okay. At least, not before now.

And though I was afraid to close my eyes, I did. I felt safe with her here. I didn’t feel as scared with Sarah Jane here and I was so tired.

So I let my eyes close.


	4. Paperwork & Stitches

**Disclaimer: I do not own Sarah Jane Adventures. I only own my OCs and plot.**

* * *

Luke's POV

_It was dark. I couldn’t see anything except for the small bit of light coming in from under the door. I tried to open it, but it was locked. I was locked in. I could hear every little sound and it scared me. I didn't know what any of them were. All I knew was that I didn't know what they were; and I’m scared._

_Then I'm in a room that looked like a kitchen. There was round wooden table with two chairs, one of which had a broken leg. There was a fridge with marks all over it. Then the sink which was full of dishes. The light hanging from ceiling flickered and I backed up. I jumped at feeling something touch my back._

_Shatter._

_There was plate laying on the edge of counter and I knocked it. It hit the ground and shattered into a small pieces all over the floor._

_He's coming. I know he heard it and I know what's coming._

_"Please." I beg as he comes closer. I want to run, but there's nowhere to go. I wouldn't get away. I take a step back. I feel a sharp pain in my foot. "I'm sorry" I say as he pushes me to the ground on top of broken shards of glass._

_"I'm sorry--I-I'm sorry!" I say as he then drags me out the kitchen. "Stop! Please! I'm sorry!"_

"Luke!" I shot awake to see Sarah Jane sitting in front of me as I try to catch my breath. I look around the room. I'm not _there_. I'm at Sarah Jane's house. "It's okay. It was just a bad dream." I hear her say, but she's wrong. It was not just a dream. They are never just dreams. I try to speak. I needed to tell her I was fine so she didn't worry about me. But I couldn't speak. "Oh, come here." She pulls me into her arms and hugs me. I start to cry.

"I-I-I'm s-sorry." I cried. I woke her up. I shouldn't have done that. I always got in trouble doing that.

“Shhh, it’s alright.” Sarah Jane says, trying to comfort me. I feel her start to rub my back and I hold onto her tightly as I cry. Eventually I manage to stop crying but I don’t let go; I didn’t want to. I didn’t want her to leave me. I was scared. “Do you want to talk about it?” She asks and I quickly shake my head. No, I didn’t want to talk about it. Besides, it wasn’t like talking about it would make them go away; they would never go away. Talking about them would just make it worse. Sarah Jane lets go and so do I. She looks at me with a warm smile. “You don’t have to, but if you ever do want to talk about it, I’m here. Okay?” I nodded at what she says. But I will never want to talk about them.

“Well now, why don’t you try and get some more sleep?” I shake my head. No, I didn’t want to go back to sleep. If I go back sleep, I’ll go _there_ ; I don’t want to go there. “Luke, it’s only half past two. You really should sleep.” I shake my head again. She then starts to get up and I grab her arm to stop her. I knew she was tired. It was my fault that she woke up and I should let her go back sleep, but I’m scared. I’m still scared and I don’t want to be alone. _Stupid_. I let go of her arm and just sat there. I should let her go back to sleep. I could manage on my own for a couple hours. “Come on.” I look up at Sarah Jane, whom was motioning for me to follow. I got out of bed and followed her across the hallway and into her bedroom. She got into bed and the patted the spot beside her; did she want me to sit with her? I got on the bed next to her and she pulled the covers over us. She laid down and then motioned for me to come closer; I did. She wrapped her arm around me and pulled me close to her. “Now I’d like you to get some more rest, but I won’t force you.” She says as she strokes my hair. I got comfortable, resting my head against her shoulder as stroked my hair once more. This was really nice. I then closed my eyes; I felt safe.

* * *

“Luke.” I wake up and see light coming through the shades that were on the windows. I turn to my right and see Sarah Jane smiling at me. “Did you sleep well?” She asks me and I nod. I did. This is the first time I didn’t have one of those bad dreams. For once I felt safe. “Good. Do you want anything to eat this morning?” She asks me and I shake my head. I had a lot last night, so I didn’t need anything. I was fine. “Okay, but how about some tea?” She asks and I nodded; that however, sounded really good. “Alright, I’ll meet you down there in a minute.”

Sarah Jane gets out of bed and goes into her bathroom. I start going down the stairs and then I heard the sound of the doorbell being rung. I remember it from last night. I unlock the door and open it.

“Hello Luke.” I frown and quickly shut the door. I go back up some of the stairs and I hear her ring the doorbell again; it was Emily. Why was she here? No! Sarah Jane said I could stay here. I didn’t want to leave. I started to cry. I didn’t want to leave. I liked it here.

_"My name is Emily and we're going to put you with a nice family…”_

That was lie. She took me to a children’s home and it wasn’t nice there. She said she would put me with a nice family, but she didn’t do that. She left with me people that never stopped hurting me. She took me away from Sarah Jane. The one person that was nice to me.

Now she was here to take me away again.   
  


* * *

Sarah Jane’s POV

I got dressed in the bathroom. I quickly finished what I was doing when I heard the doorbell. Who could that be? I quickly went down the stairs but stopped when I saw Luke curled up on the stairs, crying. “Hey, what’s wrong?” I asked.

“PLEASE DON’T LET HER TAKE ME AWAY! I-I DON’T WANT TO GO! PLEASE DON’T LET HER TAKE ME!” Luke cried. He looked so scared. I glanced at the door and then back at Luke. “I DON’T WANT TO GO!” It took me a minute to realize what had happen; Emily must be at the door.

“Luke, Luke, look at me.” I say, rubbing his shoulder. I needed him to calm down. “I will not let anyone take you from me. I promise.” I meant it. I was not losing him again. Luke needed me. “And she’s probably just here to have me sign paperwork to make me fostering you official.” I say and then wipe his tears away. I go down the stairs and open the door.

“Hello, Sarah Jane.” Emily says.

“Hello Emily.” I greet. “So are you here for me to sign papers?” I ask quietly. I had to make sure that’s what this was about before letting her in; I was not losing Luke again. I promised I would protect him and I would. She nodded and then I opened the door letting her come inside. I look up at the stairs and see Luke, whom still looked terrified. “It’s okay Luke. She’s not going to take you anywhere.” I tell him but he still looked reluctant.

“I just need to get papers signed so it’s legal.” Emily says. “So is there a place we can do this?” She asks and I nod.

“Come here.” I tell Luke, who slowly comes down the stairs and over to my side. I lead us into the living room. I sit on one of the couch with Luke, whom sat closely next to me while Emily sat on the couch across from us. She then placed some papers on the coffee table that was in between.

“So how does this work?” I ask.

“Well usually you put in a request and we have to wait until the system approves it, however this is an emergency case.” Emily explains. “Now if you sign these, Luke will be placed under your temporary custody.”

“Temporary?” I questioned.

“Yes. This will be for a roughly a couple weeks. Then we’ll schedule a home visit where I and another social worker will come evaluate your home and if it’s what you and Luke want, he can placed under your permanent custody. But I can see that Luke has taken a liking to you, so that shouldn’t be an issue.” She says and I smile at Luke.

“Just look it over then sign here and here.” Emily says, showing me where to sign. I didn’t have to think about whether I wanted to foster him; I made that decision a long time ago.

But I looked over the paperwork just to be safe.

_Would I provide for Luke? Yes. I would provide whatever he needs. I will protect him and give him everything he deserves and more._

I sign the papers and give it back to Emily.

“Okay, well congratulations. Sarah Jane Smith, you are officially Luke’s foster mother.” Emily says and Luke hugs me, which makes me smile. He is happy; and I am happy too. “Now if it’s okay Sarah Jane, I’d like to discuss some things with you privately.” I nodded at what she asks and turn to Luke.

“Why don’t you go get dressed?” I tell him and he nods. He lets go of me and goes up to his room.

“Well we’ve been trying to find Luke’s files and we haven’t found anything. Except a birth certificate, but that could be faked.” Emily says. “We’ve had to start being extra careful since people keep trying to get by with somehow producing fake files.”

“I’m sure whoever was running that factory. He probably belonged to them.” I say. Maybe that will lead off the topic. I guess now I have to do a better job with having Mr. Smith create fake files and papers.

“Yeah right, anyways, we couldn’t find anything else on him, so we’ll need to get a medical and dental chart for him.” Emily says. Oh that would be easy for Mr. Smith to do.

“That’s not problem.” I say.

“Great. I’ll send you some recommendations. We’re doing that as well as checking everything to make sure it’s real and legal.” Emily says. Oh great, I’ll have to do it. I’ll have to actually take him. This was going to be difficult. If he was any other child, it wouldn’t be a problem, but he wasn’t. He was Luke and he was a special case. But I guess I’ll just have to come up with a few good stories.

“So why did you want to discuss that privately?” I ask. Why did she not want Luke here for this? He would know about this eventually, now wouldn’t he?

“Well I just didn’t want to get him worked up or anything for now.” Emily says. I guess that made sense. “Let me tell you, that foster family I placed him with, one of them was a doctor. And well there was this incident the other week where he went to the hospital.”

“What happened?”

“He had a cut on his foot. Had to get stitches.” Emily says. “According to the foster dad he stepped on some glass after breaking some dishes. Anyways, I really wish I had looked into this sooner as I’m almost completely sure he had cuts on his face as well.” I nodded. Those cuts he had, they didn’t look very old.

“How long ago was this?”

“A week.” She tells me. Yeah, they weren’t very old. Though he might have stepped on glass, I knew that explanation wouldn’t work for those cuts. “Anyways, I really wish I would have gotten down there sooner. I should have as we had been trying to contact them about a home visit, but never heard anything.” It’s true, it would have been better for Luke’s sake if they had gotten down there sooner, but that’s in the past now. What matters is that’s he with me now and I won’t let anything bad happen to him.

“Alright well I better get going. I’ll email you tonight with whom I recommend Luke to see. If you have any questions or need anything just give me a call or send me an email.” Emily says and I nod. I show her out and then go upstairs to Luke.

* * *

Luke’s POV

I went upstairs and got dressed like Sarah Jane told me to. I put on the grey striped shirt and jeans that were in the drawer by the mirror. I went over to grab my shoes when I felt this sharp sting on my foot. I just stepped on a pen. Did I leave that there? I look down and then saw that my sock was red. I hop onto my bed and take it off; I was bleeding. Oh great, it might be my stitches.

I jump at hearing Sarah Jane knock on my door. “Hold on.” I say and quickly go into the bathroom. I quickly looked through the drawers and found bandage. I wrapped some around my foot and then threw the bloody sock away after then putting a new pair on; now she didn’t have to know. “You can come in now.” I say. Sarah Jane walks in and sits down next to me.

“So what do you think about going to get you some more clothes?” Sarah Jane asks me. “I think you might need more than what we’ve got here.” I grin and then nod. I guess I couldn’t just wear the same thing every day and night.

“Sounds good. Can we have tea first?” I ask and Sarah Jane nods.

“I’ll go put the kettle on.” Sarah Jane leaves and then I get up. I have to see if I can walk. I can as long as I’m careful. I just needed to get through clothes shopping and then I’d be fine. Sarah Jane doesn’t need to know about this.

* * *

After tea, Sarah Jane drove into town and we went into a couple stores to buy clothes. We got a bunch of shirts, jeans, sweatpants, jackets, and socks. I thought that was good enough mostly because my foot was really starting to ache and I just wanted to get off it. But then Sarah Jane said we needed to get another pair of shoes.

“I got shoes. I’m fine.” I say as I follow her into the store and quickly sit down on one of the benches.

“You’ve only got one pair.” Sarah Jane says. “You’re a size ten…” She says looking through the boxes. “Here, try these.” She went back to looking while I put one shoe on; the foot that wasn’t throbbing. I started to take the other shoe, but it hurt too much. I then took the shoe I tried on and put it back in the box; she didn’t have to know I didn’t put both on.

“These are good.” I say handing her the box. “Let’s go!”

“Luke, hold on.” Sarah Jane stops me. Why? Why can’t we just go?

“We’re good. Those shoes for fine. We can go.” I say and start heading for the door in a limp, but then without thinking I step down how I normally would; that really hurt. “Ow ow!” I feel Sarah Jane grab hold of me. She helps me walk to a bench outside.

“I was trying to tell you we have to pay for them first.” Sarah Jane tells me and I sigh; I should have waited. “Luke, what’s going on?”

“Nothing. I-I’m fine.” I lied. I didn’t want her to know what’s wrong because I know what she’ll do. I look away from her. I know how she’s now looking at me. She’s knows I’m lying. She’s mad at me and I know what happens when adults get mad; I prepare myself for punishment.

“Luke. It’s alright.” She says and I jump at her touching my shoulder. I look up at her and she doesn’t seem mad. Why wasn’t she mad? I just lied to her.

“Y-You’re not m-mad?” I asked, scared. I didn’t want her to be mad at me. I was afraid of her being mad at me; what if she didn’t want me anymore because I was bad.

“No, I’m just worried.” Sarah Jane says. “Can you tell what happened?”

“I stepped on a pen.” I tell her as I couldn’t lie now. “It really hurts.”

“Can I see it?” Sarah Jane asks as she goes to touch my foot, but I stop her.

“No, don’t touch it.” I say. It already hurts enough when I’m not walking on it or touching it; I don’t want it get worse.

“I’ll be careful, I promise.” Sarah Jane says. I guess I had to trust her and I guess it’d be better for her to do it than anyone else. I let her carefully bring my foot over to her and she carefully takes the shoe off. It hurt a little bit, but not as much as I thought. I guess she was careful. “Oh Luke.” Sarah Jane says and I look over. Now it was bleeding through this sock.

“I guess it’s a good thing we got socks.” I add.

“Yeah well, I’m going to have to get you to a doctor.” Sarah Jane says and I move away.

“No!” I say. I was not going to a doctor.

“Luke, I can’t do anything. It won’t stop bleeding. You need to have a doctor look at it.” Sarah Jane says and I shake my head. No, I didn’t want to see another doctor. They would just make it worse. “It’ll be okay. I’ll get you a real nice doctor.” She tries to touch me, but I move away. I wasn’t listening to that. I’ve heard that before.

_I was on the floor, crying. Not audible. I got in trouble for that, so I just fought off the urge to make noise. It already hurt enough; I didn’t want them to hurt me more. My face was cut, but that didn’t hurt as much as my foot did._

_“He’s getting blood everywhere!” My foster mother yelled._

_“Well what do you want me to do about it?” My foster father yelled back. “I don’t have stuff here to stop it.”_

_“Take him to a doctor, you idiot!” She yelled. “If he bleeds out and someone finds us you know what’ll happen.”_

_“Why did I let you talk me into this fostering crap? All that little shit does is make a mess of everything!” He yelled. I didn’t mean it. I never meant it, but I guess that didn’t mean anything. I did it and whether I meant it or not, I did it. And that was bad._

_“How was I supposed to know he’s one of the crappy ones?! And you’re the one who picked him! I wanted the blonde one, but no! You said get the older one! He’ll break less stuff!” She says and I curl up into a ball. I didn’t mean to do it. Any of it. I wish they had a phone. It hurts and no one was here to help me. If I could get to the phone, I could call Sarah Jane. Maybe she would help me._

_“Let’s go boy!” My foster dad picks me up by the shirt and carries me to the car. “You try anything boy and I swear I won’t hesitate to beat you then and there. And then when we get home, I’ll bring you to the room.” He warns and I nodded quickly. I didn’t want to go in there. I don’t want to go in that room ever again._

_The drive was short and once we were in this building he handed me over, but not after first telling me to behave or else I’d regret it._

_This man in a white coat came over along with two woman wearing blue. They held me still as he put something sharp into my foot. It burned. And then he was doing something to my foot. He called it stitches and it hurt worse. I tried to move, but two people were holding me down. I wanted to cry. And I did cry._

_“Oh stop being a baby. It’s done.” He says, but I don’t stop. I don’t move._

_I just cry and kept wishing Sarah Jane was here. I wanted her to save me, though I knew it wouldn’t happen. She’s probably forgotten all about me._

_My foster father came back and yelled at me because the doctor said I didn’t behave. He took me home and gave me another beating. Though the beatings are always bad, my foot still throbbed. It still hurt. But I couldn’t say anything. Or else I’d regret it._

“It hurts.” I mumble thinking about that night.

“I know it does, Luke. That’s why I need to take you to a doctor.” Sarah Jane says. But I couldn’t go. I didn’t want to. If I needed stitches it would hurt and I didn’t want that again. “I promise it’ll be alright.” Sarah Jane says and helps me to the car. I don’t struggle against her; that would be bad and I am not going to be bad anymore.

I can’t be bad. I don’t want to be bad.

The drive was quick and we didn’t say anything. She helped me into the building and I sat down. I had no choice. This was happening. This place seemed different; was this a different hospital maybe? Well at least then I wouldn’t have him again.

Maybe I would get lucky and I wouldn’t need stitches again. I really hope I don’t need stitches again.

Sarah Jane’s POV

I went over to reception after I got Luke to sit down. “Is Martha Jones here? It’s an emergency. My— _son_ Luke—“ She cut me off to tell me to go wait over there, not seeming to care whether it was an emergency or not. I would just have to wait. I found that rude, but I didn’t say anything about it. I was not going to waste my time telling that woman off when I could be sitting down with Luke, helping to calm him down.

While we waited, I rubbed his back and tried to reassure him everything would be fine; but it didn’t seem to be working. “Everything will be fine. I’ll be with you the whole time.” I tell Luke, whom then shakes his head.

“They won’t let you.”

“Yes they will.”

“No, they won’t.” Luke insists. He seemed so sure that I wouldn’t be with him for that. I had a bad feeling. Emily told me about his hospital visit, but there were still questions. What hospital and what doctor did Luke have? It seemed to me it couldn’t have been a good one.

“I promise they will.” I say and not too long after that, they brought Luke and I back to a bed. “See. I told you.” I say as I wrap my arm around Luke; he needed that. A few minutes later, Martha walked over to us.

“Hello, I’m Dr. Jones.” She says, mostly talking to Luke. He didn’t know her, but I did. I had been chasing a story when I met her. She was very helpful then, so I knew she would be very helpful now. “You must be Luke. So can you tell me what happened?” Martha asks, but Luke didn’t speak. Instead, he latched onto me.

“I’m not sure, but it might be his stitches on the left foot. He accidently stepped on a pen and it won’t stop bleeding.” I say. I didn’t really know what to say. I didn’t know what was wrong besides the fact that he was bleeding.

“Luke, is it alright if I take a look at it?” Martha asks and Luke shakes his head. I should have seen that coming. I knew Luke was only being difficult because he was scared, and having an idea of what he’s been through, I didn’t blame him. “I promise, I’ll be careful.”

Luke nods. I rub his back as Martha, as carefully as she could, took off his sock. She then looked at his foot and I could tell by how she looked at me, that Luke wasn’t going to be happy.

“Luke, I’m sorry, but I have to re-stitch you up.” Martha says as nicely as she could, but Luke was not taking it well. He first just shook his head, but then he started to cry and said ‘ _No’_ over and over. It broke my heart to see him like this. He was just so scared. I wrapped my arms around him and tried to comfort him and tell him it would be fine; but it wasn’t really working. “This first part will sting a little bit. I know, it will, but after that you won’t feel any pain.” Martha says.

“You’re lying. Why are you lying?” Luke says.

“She’s not lying, Luke.”

“Yes, she is. It hurts the whole time. It doesn’t stop.” Luke says. “I just wanted it to stop.” Luke had every right to be scared about this. He went through this and it hurt and with all the people he’s been with, I don’t blame him for not believing Martha.

“Luke, listen to me. Do you trust me?” I ask him after a couple minutes of comforting him the best I could. Luke nods at me, without hesitation; that was good. “Well Martha isn’t lying to you. After she gives you the anesthetic it won’t hurt. Now you’re a smart boy, why would she give you the anesthetic if you would feel her stitching you up, anyways?” I ask him and shakes his head.

“I don’t know.” Luke says. “I guess she wouldn’t.” I smile at him. He really was clever.

“Good.” I say. “I don’t blame you for being scared, but you don’t have to be. Everything will be alright.” He smiles at me, but I know it’s forced; he was still really scared. “You said you trust me. Well I’m telling you to trust Martha. Can you do that?” I ask Luke and he nods after a moment.

While Martha gets what she needs ready, I just continue to comfort him and try to distract him from what will be happening. “Luke, you can lie down, if you want.” Martha says and I know what she’s getting at. I get Luke to lay down, putting his head on my lap. I stroked his hair, hoping it helped him calm down a bit and it seemed to; until Martha asked if he was ready. But he nodded anyways. “Alright, just relax. It’ll sting for a few seconds and then it’s done.” Martha says and I take his hand. I know she has given it to him when I hear Luke let out a small pained cry. “There. Hard part’s over.” Luke griped onto my hand and I continued to run my fingers through his hair as Martha stitched him up; but it was quickly over.

Once he was discharged, I helped him to the car, but I sat next to him in the back instead of just getting into the front.

“You okay now?” I ask him and Luke nods.

“I’m sorry.” Luke says.

“I know.” I say, I know he was just scared. He had every right to be, but that’s over and done with now. “But next time something like this or if anything at all happens, I need you to tell me. I can’t help you if I don’t know what’s going on.” I say and he nods, understanding. I couldn’t be the best foster mum I could be if I didn’t do all that I could.

I knew this would take some time to get used to, but I knew we’d get there.

One thing I know, it’s going to be _so much fun_ taking Luke to the doctor’s next week.


	5. Scars

**Disclaimer: I do not own Sarah Jane Adventures. I only own the plot and my OCs.**

* * *

Sarah Jane’s POV

I wake up and turn to see Luke asleep in my bed. This was the sixth time in a week. Every night I would get him to bed in his own room but every morning he was asleep in mine. I didn’t mind it. I knew Luke had nightmares and it was nice to see that I somehow made them go away, but I knew I should do something about it. Luke should be able to sleep in his own bed at night.

Maybe I should talk to someone about this.

I didn’t want to say anything to Emily about this. I had a feeling they would recommend a therapist or something and I wasn’t sure that was the right option for Luke. I’m pretty sure I can handle this.

Luke needed to sleep, so I got out of bed carefully and went downstairs to make some tea. I then stood outside while I drank it, trying to think of something that could help Luke. He couldn’t exactly sleep with me every single night; that’s not good for him. He needed to be in his own room.

“Hiya!” I look up and see Maria waving at me.

“Oh, hello Maria!” I say as she walks over the road. “You off to school?”

“Yeah.” Maria says. “Where’s Luke?’

“Sleeping.” I say and sigh; if only I had an idea on how to help him sleep better.

“You alright? Is something up with Luke?” Maria asks me and I wonder if I should tell her. I don’t know how Luke would feel about me telling someone about this. Oh well, maybe she had an idea; any ideas right now would be great.

“He’s not sleeping really well.” I tell her. “He has nightmares. Every morning I wake up and there he is. In my bed.” I grin a bit. It was nice that he trusted me and felt safe with me, but I knew he couldn’t exactly do that forever. “Not that I don’t mind it, but I just don’t know how I will get them to stop or how I can get him to stop being afraid to sleep in his room.” That was the other problem. I always got him to go to sleep because I would stay with him for a little while. It never took long for him to fall asleep. But then I would wake up and he wouldn’t be in his room anymore.

“Well I have these lights I put in my room. Maybe you could get some for Luke.” Maria suggests. “It won’t be as dark.” I nod. That was actually a good idea. I remember when I was little I took some of the Christmas lights and strung up in my room; they always lit up the room perfectly. Something like that could work for Luke.

But that still left the problem of the nightmares.

“And I don’t know if this would help but you could try getting him…a bear.” Maria suggests. “I know he’s probably a little old for it, but it helped me when I was little. And we both know in reality he’s not really that old.” Yeah, she was right.

“Never mind, it’s stupid.”

“No, I think it’s a good idea, Maria.” I tell her. “Now you better be off to school then. Your dad would have my head if I made you late.” She laughs and then heads off to school. I finished my tea and went back inside.

Okay that may have just solved one problem.

Now I just had to figure out how to tell Luke about a trip to the doctor’s.

* * *

I went back up to my bedroom and sat next to Luke. I stroked his hair gently and he slowly opened his eyes. “Morning. Do you want some tea?” I ask and Luke nods as he sits up. “Did you have a nightmare again?” Luke looks up at me and then slowly nods. It seemed like he was deciding whether to tell me or not. “Do you want to talk about it?” Luke shakes his head without hesitation. I nodded, though I really wanted Luke to tell me. I wanted him to talk to me about this. It could help if he did, but I wouldn’t push it. I knew it was hard for him and maybe eventually he would talk to me about them.

I took him downstairs and he drank his tea. “Do you want any breakfast?”

“No. I’m not hungry.” Luke tries to tell me.

“You barely ate any dinner last night. How about some toast?” Luke nods and make some toast. I put it on the plate in front of him and then sit down; I guess now might be the best time to tell him. “What’s going on?” Luke asks me and I frown. How did he know—? Was it that obvious? “I don’t have to go back— _there_ , do I?” Luke asks me. I knew he was referring to the children’s home. Why did he think that?

“No, no. It’s nothing like that.” I say as I rub the back of his hand. “You’re not going anywhere.” I see Luke relax. I hated that the first thing that came to Luke’s mind was getting sent away; hopefully those feelings would go away.

“Then what’s going on?” Luke asks. “Is something bad happening?”

“No.” I say. It wasn’t really a bad thing at all, but I had this feeling that Luke wasn’t going to be happy about it. Did I just have this look that I didn’t realize I have?

“It’s nothing to worry about, really.” I start off by saying. “We’re just taking a trip to the doctor’s, that’s all.”

“What for?” Luke asks. I could tell already that he didn’t like the idea of going and he didn’t even know it was for him. Or maybe he did.

“Well Emily has no medical records for you so she just needs me to get you a checkup. That’s all.” I explain but Luke still didn’t look happy.

“No!” Luke says. I knew he wouldn’t like this at all. “I just saw a doctor. I’m fine. I don’t need to see one again.” I knew he didn’t like doctors. I knew he certainly wouldn’t like to see one after just going to one, but that was different. I wish I could just have Mr. Smith fake some stuff, but with what Emily told me, I can’t risk it. I can’t risk them finding out I didn’t actually take him, think I’m not a fit foster parent, and take Luke away from me; I’m not letting that happen.

“Luke, it’ll be alright.”

“No!” Luke says and goes upstairs into his bed. I hear the door slam shut and sigh; this may be a bit harder than I thought it was going to be.

After giving Luke a few minutes alone, I went upstairs to try and talk to him. I knocked and then opened his door. I sat down on the bed next to him and put my hand on his shoulder. He wouldn’t look at me. He just stared at the carpet, but he didn’t move away from me, so I guess that was good.

“I don’t want to go.” Luke says.

“I know.” I say. “But I have to take you.”

“Why? Why do I have to go? What are they going to do?” Luke asks me.

“You’re just going to get checked out. Make sure you’re healthy.”

“But I’m fine. I feel fine. _I am_ fine.” Luke says and I sigh. I knew he was fine. The Bane gave him perfect health, but I couldn’t exactly tell Emily that so for at least this one time, he was going to have to do this.

“I know, but we’ve got to be sure. And Emily really needs me to do this.” I tell him, hoping he understands that this is out of my hands, in a way.

Luke looks up at me. “Will it hurt?”

I shake my head. Luke wasn’t going to need any vaccinations or anything like that because of who he is. “No, it shouldn’t.” I tell him.

“Will—will you be there with me? Like before?” Luke asks me and I nod.

“Of course I will.” I say. “As long as you want me with you.” I knew it would probably help Luke if I was there with him, so I had already planned to be with him.

“Yes.” Luke nods quickly. “You promise you won’t l-leave me?” I frowned at seeing how scared he was. And he seemed more terrified at the idea of me leaving that he looked ready to cry.

“I won’t leave you, I promise. I’ll be there with you the whole time.” I tell him, putting my hand on his cheek as a tear escapes his eye. “Come here. It’ll be alright.” I say as I wrap my arms around Luke, giving him a hug.

* * *

Luke’s POV

We left at half past ten, but only because Sarah Jane said she had to stop off at the shops and get a few things first. Then after that she started to drive to the doctor’s.

It’s stupid. I shouldn’t be scared. I’m sure no one else is scared of doctors, but I am. I don’t want to go. I’m scared they’ll hurt me again. Sarah Jane told me that it won’t be Martha. It’s a different doctor and this one’s a man. What if he tries to hurt me like the other man did? What if I do something wrong and he yells at me like the other man did? What if he doesn’t let Sarah Jane stay with me? Sarah Jane says it’ll be alright and it won’t hurt, but what if she’s wrong? What if he tries to hurt me?

I’m scared she won’t stop him if he tries to hurt me like the other guy did.

We get there and I just sit there as Sarah Jane gets out of the car. I look down at the floor of the car when she looks back in my direction, noticing that I haven’t left the car. I don’t want to go in. I just want to stay in the car. I just want to go back to the house.

I hear the door open but I don’t move or even look at Sarah Jane. “Luke.” Sarah Jane says wanting to get my attention. I don’t look up. “You don’t have to be scared. I’ll be right there with you.”

“What if he doesn’t let you back with me? What if he yells at me?” I ask. It could happen. And if he tries to hurt me, what if she can’t stop it?

“Luke, that’s not going to happen. I will be back there with you. I will sit with you and hold your hand the entire time. And he’s not going to yell at you or anything like that. He’s my friend, just like Martha. I know him and he’s a great doctor and person.” Sarah Jane tells me. I look at her and she hasn’t lied to me. She hasn’t hurt me either. And she was right about Martha; so maybe she was right about this one. “I promise everything will be fine.”

“Okay.” I say and follow her inside. I sit on one of the chairs, just like at the hospital, while Sarah Jane talks to this lady at the desk. I look around and it’s empty except for Sarah Jane and me. Once she finishes talking to the woman, she sits down next to me.

“Luke Smith.” I look up at hearing my name and see a woman in light blue clothes, carrying a clipboard. Wait, Luke Smith? That’s Sarah Jane’s last name. She used hers? It sounded nice; it kind of made me happy. “You can follow me back now.” She says and I look at Sarah Jane, feeling really scared again. She smiles at me and takes my hand.

That made me feel better.

* * *

I followed the woman back through a hallway while holding Sarah Jane’s hand. I didn’t let go because I was afraid of her not being there. I know she told me she would be there with me but I just had to make sure of it. I watched as the woman opened a door and brought us into a room. It was different from what I’ve seen at the hospital.

“Can you step over here for me, sweetie?” She asks me and I look back at Sarah Jane, whom smiled at me. I didn’t want to let go but I did; I didn’t want to get in trouble for not listening. I step on the scale thing and she writes some things down. She then has me sit on the table with this white paper on it and then takes my temperature; she writes something down again. “Alright, I’ll let Dr. Sullivan know you are here and he’ll be with you shortly.” Once she leaves the room, Sarah Jane walks back over to me and she rubs my back.

“You put Luke Smith.” I say.

“Yeah. I did.” Sarah Jane says. “You needed a last name and I couldn’t exactly just put Luke.” She laughs. “And you’re mine, aren’t you? I think it’s only fitting for you to have the last name.” Sarah Jane says and I smile. I guess that was true. Well at least she was saying that for now. She could change her mind and send me back. She probably will, but at least it wasn’t now.

A couple minutes later there is a knock and then a man enters. “I heard my old girl is in here.” He says. What? What did that mean?

“Do you want me to throw a shoe at you?” Sarah Jane asks and then they both started laughing. Sarah Jane then goes over and gives him a hug. “It’s good to see you too, Harry.”

“You look great.” The doctor, Harry says to her. I guess they were really good friends. But I don’t understand why he called her old and why she said if he did it again she’d throw a shoe at him. Why would he keep doing it if she didn’t like it? I don’t understand that. But I guess they weren’t actually serious since they were laughing and Sarah Jane said they were friends.

“So you must be Luke.” He says looking at me. I guess now that he was talking to me we were going to start now and I’m scared. I don’t know what he is going to do and what if it hurts? “You can call me Harry.” He says and holds his hand out in front of me. I just stare at it for a second and then shake it. “Your mum’s told me all about you.” He says. Was he talking about Sarah Jane? Must be. I guess she’s sort of my mum, at least for now.

“Like what?” I ask.

“You’re amazing.” Sarah Jane says as she then sits next to me and takes my hand. I felt a lot better.

“Alright, now I’m sure you want to get this over with.” Harry says and I nod. “Don’t worry this won’t take too long. You’ll be out of here before you know it.” I hope he’s right about that.

“Can you take your shirt off for me?” Harry asks and I frown. Why did he want me to do that? Why did I need to do that? No, I can’t do that then they’ll see my scars; I don’t want them to see them.

“Luke? You alright?” Sarah Jane asks me and I nod. “Okay. Can you do what he says?”

I shake my head. I couldn’t let them see. I didn’t want them to see.

* * *

_I was scrubbing the floors. They wanted them clean. No, they wanted them cleaner than they’ve ever seen him. That was my foster father’s exact words before he left for work in the morning. I’ve been cleaning ever since._

_They were probably clean by now. At least in my perspective they were, but I didn’t want to risk it. If it’s not what they want they will beat me and lock me in my room—well the cellar—for two days without any food scraps._

_I didn’t want that._

_It was dark in there and I hated the dark._

_And I’m hungry. So hungry._

_I had been scrubbing for hours and finally I stopped. I think this is good enough; I don’t think the floor could be any cleaner._

_My foster mother came in earlier than she usually would on a—day when she worked. I didn’t know what day it was. Knowing what day it was—that was meaning less to me. All days are the same. I tried to get her to not walk into the kitchen as it was still wet, but she pushed me out of the way. She then slipped and fell on her back._

_“…the floor’s still wet.” I say as I get up and help her up. She then pushes me down onto the floor. She then took out the wooden spoon from the drawer and hit me with it a couple times. It hurt. A lot. I don’t know if anything could be worse than that spoon._

_“YOU ASSHOLE! I COULD HAVE BROKEN MY NECK!” She yelled as she continued to hit me with it. “MY DAY HAS BEEN BAD ENOUGH WITHOUT YOUR SHIT!” She takes one more final swing and then throws it onto the floor. She then takes something out of the fridge. It’s red. No, no, she can’t!_

_But she does._

_She pours it all over the floor I spent hours cleaning. “NOW CLEAN THIS UP!” She yells and walks away. I sigh and manage to pick myself up so I can start scrubbing again; and do it for the next couple of hours; I guess it’s a good thing my foster dad always worked late._

_Once I finish cleaning up, I see my foster father still isn’t home. My foster mother was in her room, so I could sit on the couch. They never let me do that. But I had time. It felt nice not sitting on the floor for a change. I then laid down on the armrest and this just felt really nice. It’s not as hard or as cold as the floor of the cellar. Oh, I’m so tired. He won’t be home for an hour, maybe I can just close my eyes for a couple minutes._

_I woke up with someone throwing me across the room and then started hitting me._

_“WHAT DID WE TELL YOU ABOUT THAT COUCH?!” My foster dad yells._

_What was he doing home? He wasn’t supposed to be—No, it couldn’t be. The clock on the wall said it was 17:26. No I couldn’t have. I slept for over an hour? Damn it—I mean I couldn’t help it. I was so tired and it felt so much nicer than the floor. I know I shouldn’t be sleeping, but—my thoughts were cut off as he pull me to my feet by my hair._

_“…AND I TOLD YOU TO CLEAN THE BATHROOMS!”_

_What? No, he never said bathrooms. No, I would remember that; I remember everything._

_“No. You said to clean the kitchen.” I say and he slaps me._

_“I KNOW WHAT I SAID AND I TOLD YOU TO CLEAN THE BATHROOMS!” He yells, but I know he didn’t. But I couldn’t exactly argue that I have the mind of ten thousand humans, so I knew for sure he said to clean the kitchen; he wouldn’t believe that._

_“No, you—“ I tried, I shouldn’t have. I know I shouldn’t have, but it’s not fair. I was going to get beat for not doing the bathrooms even though he didn’t tell me to do the bathrooms. “—stop!” I yelled, trying to get away and he stops dragging me by the hair._

_“WE TELL YOU DO THINGS AND YOU DON’T LISTEN! YOU LIE AND BACK TALK! YOU EVEN MADE MY WIFE FALL! YOU THINK YOU CAN JUST LIVE IN OUR HOME, DO ALL THIS SHIT, AND GET AWAY WITH IT?!” He yells and I shake my head quickly, cringing at his words. I was scared; I’m always scared when it comes to him. And I could tell what he was saying—where it was going—it wouldn’t end well for me._

_“I think I need to teach you a lesson.” He says. He doesn’t yell this time._

_That scared me more. He always yells, he never stops yelling. The fact that he wasn’t yelling at me, scared me. And what did he mean teach me a lesson? I mean, he’s beaten me before and I knew what that was like. How would beating me again be teaching me a new lesson? And I doubt there is anything worse than that._

_He dragged me downstairs into the cellar where I sleep and threw me in. He locked the door behind him but fixed the light that was hanging above us so I could see; why did he want me to see?_

_“Take off your shirt.” He says._

_“Why?” I ask._

_“TAKE OFF YOUR SHIRT!” He yells and I do it. Maybe whatever was about to happen wouldn’t be as bad if I just listened. I take off my T-shirt and hold against my stomach; I don’t want him to see that I don’t have a belly button._

_I was scared of what he might do if he knew I really was a freak._

_I watched as he took off his belt and then he then walked behind me. “You need to respect us. You need to respect me!”_

_He swung and his belt hit me. I yelled. That hurt—I never thought anything could hurt more than it did when my foster mom hit me with the wooden spoon; but this did. He kept hitting me. Eventually I lost count of how many times he hit me with it. After what felt like forever I was laying on my stomach, struggling to move._

_“Pl-Please. Stop.” I mumbled out as I cried._

_“Have you learned your lesson?” He asks me and I quickly nod, trembling; I just wanted it to stop._

_“Good.” He says and hits me with the belt three more times. I cry and then he hits me twice more. I have to be quiet. I don’t move or make a sound and I hear him move away from me. The lights go out and I hear the door open and then close._

_The footsteps get quieter and quieter. When I can’t hear them anymore, I start to cry. I try to move, but I just lie there trembling. I was cold and my back burned. I couldn’t move. I just laid there in the dark sobbing and trembling._

_I never thought there could be anything worse than what I’ve gotten before._

_I was wrong._

_This was the worst beating I’ve ever gotten._

* * *

“Luke?” I am pulled away from those memories at hearing Sarah Jane’s voice. I turn to her and she looks worried. I felt something drop onto the back of my hand; it was wet. I feel my face. I was crying. I didn’t know I had been crying. “What’s wrong?” She asks me and I wipe my tears away. _I have to stop being so stupid all the time._

“Nothing.” I say and slowly take my shirt off like Harry asked me to. I looked down as I knew they would probably say something about the scars.

“Luke, can you look at me?” Harry asks and I look at him. I watch as he takes a light out of his pocket. He tells me to follow the light with only my eyes and I do. Then he put this metal thing onto my chest and he tells me to take deep breaths. I do and I do the same thing when he puts it on my back; I shiver each time as it’s cold.

I feel Sarah Jane gently touch my back where my scars were. She probably thought I was freak or some broken mess. Maybe just something like that. I don’t look at her, but eventually she just squeezes my hand and doesn’t say anything.

Harry puts something around my arm. “It may feel a little tight.” He says as he presses on this cuff. The thing around my arm does get tighter but it doesn’t hurt. He then hits something against my knee and I cringed away before hand, thinking it would hurt but it didn’t.

Why did he do that?

He then looks in my ears with this thing—I don’t know what it’s called. It felt really weird. “Can you open up your mouth and say ‘ahhh’ for me?” He asks and I do. I don’t know what that’s for but I do it anyways. All these things he was doing was strange and I didn’t understand why Emily was making Sarah Jane take me here to have him do this stuff; it was weird and I didn’t see how this made sure people were healthy or whatever.

This all was weird.

“You can put your shirt back on now, Luke.” Harry says and I do. I was starting to get cold, so I glad I could put it back on. Once I put it back on Sarah Jane rubs my back and I assume that meant it was done so I start to get off the table, but Harry stops me.

“One more thing, Luke. Then you and your mum can go.” He says. “Just roll up your sleeve for me.”

“Harry, what are you doing? I told you about him, so he doesn’t need vaccinations.” Sarah Jane says—what was going on?

“Emily asked me to take some blood because they don’t have his blood type.” Harry says. He wanted to take blood? I look at Sarah Jane whom just sighed and looked at me; I knew just by how she was looking at me that this was probably going to hurt.

“No.” I say. “You said—“

“I know what I said and I’m sorry. I didn’t know.” Sarah Jane says. I knew it really wasn’t her fault because she did seemed surprised at what Harry was telling her. Why was this all so important? Why do they need to know what type of blood I have? “Luke, it’ll be okay, I promise.”

“It’s going to hurt.” I say and Sarah Jane nods.

“It only hurts for a few seconds.” Harry says and I shake my head. I didn’t care what he says. He probably would yell at me if I didn’t hold still or whatever.

“Luke, calm down, okay?” Sarah Jane says and I try. She tells me to take deep breaths and I do. “Now you remember when Martha stitched you up last week?” She asks me and I nod. It didn’t hurt as much as I thought, but it still hurt a bit. “Well this won’t be as bad and it’ll be much quicker.” I wasn’t sure if I could believe that, I mean he was taking blood and what if he did it wrong?

“It’ll be okay, I promise.” Sarah Jane says and strokes my hair. She moves it out of my eyes and I then lay down on her lap again, except this time I lay flat on my back instead of my side. I feel Harry take hold of my arm.

“Luke, can you make a fist for me?” Harry asks and I nod. I make a fist and he ties something around my arm. I then feel something wet and cold being rubbed on one spot. “Okay Luke, are you ready?” He asks as I quickly close my eyes and squeeze Sarah Jane’s hand. I nod at Harry. I feel a sting in my arm and then nothing. I feel Sarah Jane stroke my hair and I just lay there motionless while tightly holding her hand. Eventually I feel something being placed onto my arm. “There. You’re done.”

I open my eyes and see this cotton ball taped to my arm.

I guess it didn’t hurt that bad.

I got off the table with Sarah Jane and we were starting to leave when Harry stopped us. “Sarah Jane can I talk to you for a moment?” He asks her and she nods.

“You can go wait in the car Luke.” She says and I nod.

Sarah Jane’s POV

Once Luke left, I sat down in front of Harry. “So what’s up?”

“I am reviewing Luke’s charts and I’m concerned about his weight.” Harry says I nod. I’m sure his previous foster parents didn’t give him much to eat so it would take time before he gets used to eating regular meals. “I know you haven’t had him that long yet, but how are his eating habits?”

I frown. Now that I think about it, Luke doesn’t eat much. He never asks for anything besides tea and often when I ask him if he wants anything he tells me no. He tells me he’s fine or doesn’t need anything.

“I’m not saying this is Luke’s case, but eating disorders are common in kids that were abused.” Harry says. “Just keep an eye on him. Try to get him to eat more. He could adjust and be fine, but if he doesn’t, call me and I could help. I could get someone to help.” Harry say and I nod.

“Okay and thanks so much for this, Harry.” I say.

“It’s no problem. Anything for my old girl.” He replies.

“Watch it!” I warn. He knows I hate it when he calls me that. I stand up and was about to leave to go home with Luke when Harry stops me again.

“Sarah Jane.” I turn around when Harry stops me. “Luke’s lucky to have you for a mum.” He says and smile at that.

I guess he is.

* * *

I drive home and bring Luke into the kitchen. “So what would you like for lunch?” I ask him and Luke shrugs.

“I’m okay, you don’t have to make anything.” He says. Again with that. He always says he doesn’t want anything.

“Nonsense. You haven’t had a thing all day.” I say and look through the kitchen, trying to find something to give to Luke. There was some pizza and I didn’t really know anything about cooking, so this will have to do for now. I heat it up and give it to him at the table. “You eat and I’ll be back.” I say and go upstairs.

Before we went to the doctor’s, I stopped at the shops to get the things Maria and I discussed that might help Luke sleep in his room at night. While he was eating I put the lights up and plugged them in. I turned off the lights to see how they would look; they probably would look better when it actually got dark.

I went back downstairs to where to Luke was and found him throwing the pizza away, with no bites taken out of it.

“Luke.” I say and he looks at me with this scared look on his face. I gather that he didn’t want me to know that he threw the food out instead of eating it. “What—why are you—did you not like it?” I ask him and he shrugs.

“No, it’s fine.” Luke says, shifting his foot.

“Then why?” I ask and he shrugs. “Would you rather have something else?” Luke shakes his head. Okay, so the pizza was fine, but he didn’t want to eat that or anything else. “Luke, you really need to eat.”

“I’m fine.” Luke says.

“Luke, you’re not fine.” I say, stopping him from walking away from me and he pulls away. “You barely eat anything and you need to—“

“No, I don’t want to!” He says

“Why not?”

“Because—because I-I’ll be fat!” Luke yelled. We just stared at each other for a few moments before Luke ran upstairs.

This is going to be hard.

* * *

Luke’s POV

_I was making dinner. They had me make it every night—well when they didn’t get take out. So half the time, I had to make dinner. If they liked it, they wouldn’t leave me any. If they didn’t like it, they’d dump it on the floor and beat me for not doing a decent job; and if I wanted it, I had to eat it off the floor._

_My foster parents weren’t home yet._

_They told me to start cooking. They didn’t say they wanted anything specific, but they just told me they wanted something cooked and ready on the table when they came home._

_I made some pasta with a red tomato sauce._

_I was hungry._

_I hadn’t eaten in days._

_They had just unlocked the cellar this morning so I could come out and do my work. I cleaned the kitchen so I could dirty again while I made this dinner. Then I had to clean it again. And I did. I finished cooking and setting the table. They weren’t home yet thankfully, so I went and cleaned up. They still weren’t home yet. The dinner looked really good. It smelled really good. I felt and heard my stomach growl. I was so hungry and I felt like I desperately needed this food._

_Maybe just one bite._

_I got a fork and got some pasta wrapped up around the fork. I ate it. It tasted better than it looked and smelled. The sauce and the pasta went perfectly together and just eating something felt amazing. I wanted more, but I shouldn’t._

_Maybe one more._

_I ate one more, but then heard something drop on the floor. I jumped and turned around to see them; my foster parents. I’m dead._

_“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” My foster mother asks me._

_“Um—I m-made dinner.” I stuttered._

_“We told you we were eating out, idiot!” She says. What? What that really means is they changed their mind and just wanted a reason to beat me. “And even if we did, what makes you think you’re allowed to have any? What have you done to earn it?”_

_I gulped. When I came here they said I had to earn things. Like food. That’s their excuse for making me work, but even then, if I said I didn’t care about earning things they would probably beat me until I agreed to do things._

_“I-I—“_

_“No, it’s alright, babe. He’s just hungry and I guess we haven’t been doing right by him.” My foster dad says. What? He was saying that she was wrong and I was right? Was that really happening? “Now why don’t you sit down and eat. I’m sure you’re still hungry.” He says moving the chair for me to sit down. This was strange. Nothing like this has ever happened before but I didn’t want him to yell at me so I do what he says; also because I was still really hungry. I was going to get a plate but he pushes me back down and puts the big bowl of pasta in front of me. “Now eat it. All of it.” He says and I started eating. Eventually the bowl was half empty and I didn’t really want anymore. But he told me to eat more so I kept eating. There was still some left but my stomach hurt. It ached and felt like it was going to burst. “I said to eat all of it. THAT’S NOT ALL OF IT!” He yelled and I cringed. _

_“But—“ He cut me off by pulling my hair._

_“Do you want me to use my belt?” He asks and I shake my head quickly; anything but the belt. I quickly shoved the rest of the food into my mouth and swallowed it and the bowl was empty._

_Now I feel sick._

_My foster dad dragged me into the bathroom by my shirt and had me hover over the toilet. “Shove your fingers down your throat.” He says. What? Why? But before I could say anything I started to vomit. I threw up for several minutes and even after I finished, it wasn’t enough. “DO IT!” He yelled and I did what he want. I shoved my fingers down my throat and I threw up again._

_Eventually I laid on the floor trembling. I felt awful. My throat burned and my stomach was still turning._

_“Now do you understand?” He asks me and I don’t know what he’s talking about. I shake my head. “My god you’re an idiot.” He insults and a few tears escape my eyes. “If you eat eventually it’ll all add up. You’ll be fat and no one is ever going to like you. You’ll be disgusting. You’ll be more than the worthless piece of shit you are now.” He says and I cringe away._

_“Make sure the bathroom is clean by tomorrow.” He says as he walks out, leaving me there._

_I manage to get up and look at myself in the mirror. I look horrible. I feel horrible. I lift up my shirt to look at my stomach._

_I don’t want to be like that._

_I don’t want to feel or look worse than I already do._

_I won’t eat. I’m never going to do that again._

* * *

I laid on my bed and cried. She wanted me to eat, but I couldn’t eat. I didn’t want to eat. If I ate then I would be disgusting. I would feel horrible. No one would like me. Sarah Jane wouldn’t want me anymore. I knew it was a matter of time, but I didn’t want it to happen yet. I wanted to stay here for as long as I can.

I can’t eat. I won’t.

I know Sarah Jane has come into my room when I feel the bed move and something touches my back.

“I’m not eating.” I tell her.

“Luke, talk to me.” Sarah Jane says. What was there to talk about? I wasn’t going to eat. I didn’t want to be disgusting. I didn’t want people to hate me. “Why don’t you want to eat?”

“Because.” I say. I know it wasn’t an answer, but I don’t care. She won’t understand.

“Luke, I want to help you. I’m here for you. But I can’t help you if you don’t tell me what’s going on.” Sarah Jane says. Why did she think she needs to help? Besides eventually she will decide she doesn’t want me anymore and it won’t matter.

“No one will like me.” I say. Maybe if I told her she will just leave me alone.

“Why do you think that?” She asks.

“Because it’s true.” I say. “I’ll look disgusting and no one likes that. No one will like me but if I don’t eat then it’s less likely to happen.”

“You wouldn’t like me either.”

“Luke that’s not true.” Sarah Jane says, but I know that’s a lie. She may not know it now but if it happened, I know what the outcome would be. She wouldn’t want me anymore and she would send me back; no one would want me; no one really wants me now let alone then.

“Yes it is.”

“Luke, I’m sure some people are like that, but they are stupid.” Sarah Jane says. “I’m not like that. I like you. You are an amazing boy. You’re smart and you’re kind. I know you are a good person. And no matter what you looked like, that wouldn’t make me like you any less.” She says and I look at her. She didn’t look like she was lying and she hasn’t lied to me. She has always been nice to me, even when she finds out I slept in her bed; I thought she would have been mad.

“What I don’t like is that you’re hurting yourself. You need to eat, Luke. It’s not good for you not to.” Sarah Jane says.

“I guess I can try and eat something.” I say. I still didn’t want to but I would do it for Sarah Jane. I wanted to stay here and I don’t want her not to like me.

“Good.” Sarah Jane says as she gives me a hug. “Now I was thinking we go out. Let’s see if we can find something else you like besides pizza.”

* * *

Sarah Jane’s POV

We found a good Chinese restaurant and ate there. Luke had a good bit. It wasn’t much but at least it was something. We would probably really need to work on that, but I’m sure we’d get through this. When we got home, I told him to go get ready for bed and he did.

I finished setting up the lights and waited for Luke to come in his room. Once he did, I tucked him in. “Will you stay?” Luke asks me again.

“I can sit with you a little bit, alright?” Luke nods, looking less scared when I said I would stay. We talked for a little bit but then I reached to turn off the lights and he stopped me. “I want to show you something.” I say and turn off the lights. He looks around seeing his room wasn’t dark like it would be before I put the lights in.

“Maria gave me the idea.” I tell him. “I thought this might help.”

“Thanks.” Luke says, he seemed to like them. And then I went and got the bag that was in the corner and brought it over to him. I took out the bear and handed to him. “For me?” He asks and I nod.

“It may help with the nightmares.” I say. “Now I would like you to try and sleep in your own bed tonight, okay?” Luke nods. He seemed sad. “I don’t mind you sleeping in my bed. It’s fine. I get you have bad dreams. But this should help so you don’t have to.” I say. I don’t want him to think that it’s not okay.

“What if I do have one?” He asks me.

“Well I’ll either hear you and come in here or you can come in my room.” I tell him and he nods. “And if you want to talk about it, you can wake me up.” I add, giving him the option. That option was always there and I needed him to know that. “Now try to get some sleep, okay?” I tell him and he nods. I tuck him in again and I get up from the bed. I kiss him on the forehead. “Goodnight, Luke.” I say and leave the room.

I really hope things get better for him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally, I wasn't sure if they mentioned if Harry was alive or not considering the actor died in '86. But for the story's sake lets say he is alive.


	6. Wanted

**Disclaimer: I do not own Sarah Jane Adventures. I only own the plot and my OCs.**

* * *

Sarah Jane’s POV

I just finished having a conversation with the headmaster at Park Vale Comprehensive School to have Luke enrolled. He would start next week. I knew I had to get him into school at some point and the sooner the better.

But that wasn’t going to be the challenging part of today.

Today I had to take Luke to the dentist and I had a feeling he was going to like that just as much as he liked going to the doctor. Though, I can hope it will go better than the doctor visit, I know Luke isn’t going to like having to go.

I went into the kitchen and made some tea. Then I got out some eggs. Luke had to eat and I was probably going to have to learn to cook eventually—making eggs shouldn’t be that hard, right?

_Wrong._

Somehow I managed to start a fire.

“Oh!” I yell, startled by the pot going up in flames and the smoke detectors going off. I quickly got the fire extinguisher and put out the fire. I sighed and then turned around to see Luke standing against the doorframe. “Oh. Morning.” I say as I put the extinguisher down.

“What happened?” Luke asks.

“I was trying to make eggs—but it didn’t work out.” I tell him as I open a window. “How did you sleep?” I ask. He wasn’t in my bed this morning so I guess he didn’t have any nightmares.

“Good.” Luke says and I could tell that he meant it.

“Sorry I tried to make you something—“

“I’m fine.”

“Luke.” I say. I knew it was going to take a while, but I really needed him to know that it was important for him to eat. He couldn’t do this. He certainly didn’t need to starve himself; he’s done way too much of that. “Remember what we talked about?” I ask and he nods.

“Sorry.” He apologizes, looking to the side of me.

“It’s alright. Anyways, for right now, you’ll have to settle for fruit.” I say and hand him an apple. I guess we both have some things we need to work on: Luke needs to work on his eating habits and I have to work on my cooking abilities.

While he ate, I tried to think of the best way to tell him about today. I even asked Mr. Smith for advice but he wasn’t much help; why I thought a computer would be of any help with parenting is beyond me. Even if he is called Mr. Smith. I paced back in forth on the carpet trying to think but came up with nothing. I knew there was the possibility of Luke being okay with it, but the chances were slim. Luke did not like doctors, and when he knew this was a type of doctor—well, I knew the chances of him not liking this were high.

“Sarah Jane?”

I turn around and see Luke standing outside the attic door, peering in. I smiled at him, but he stayed there with that same expression of worry on his face. “You can come in.” I say and he does. He walks a few steps. Maybe I’ll wait to tell him. Then he won’t have as much time to worry about it before we go. But on the other hand, if Luke reacted like he did to the doctor’s visit, it might take a little bit to calm him down. It might even take more time as he wasn’t exactly familiar with dentists yet. Maybe I should tell him now. There seemed like there was no better way to tell him so I better just get it over with.

I lead him over to the couch and we sit down. “So Luke we have to do a few things today.”

“Like what?” Luke asks, with a frown. Did he already know? Or did I have this look that said he wouldn’t like it? Or maybe he just always expects the worse? I hope it’s the last one, least of all. I don’t like even thinking that Luke always thinks the worst.

“Well you are going to start school next week so we need to get you some stuff for that. And maybe we could grab some lunch after that.” I tell him. We would do those things after his appointment, but I think telling him the easy stuff first might be a good idea. I watch as Luke grins a bit and nods. Okay now to get onto the part of the day he wasn’t going to like.

“But before we do that, I have to take you to see a dentist.”

“What’s that?” Luke asks. Oh great, I have to explain that. What’s the best way to explain to him what a dentist is without scaring him? Is there a way to explain that without scaring him?

“It’s like a doctor…” I start off. Why did I start with that? He hates doctors. Oh, I was really bad at this. “…but for teeth.” I say. This was the best way explaining it. Well it was the simplest way of explaining it. But it wasn’t the best. I knew just by how Luke’s face fell that this wouldn’t be easy.

_Maybe it would have been better to give him the dictionary definition._

“Why?” Luke asks.

“Um Emily just wants to me to get you checked out. Make sure everything is okay.” I tell him. I could tell already, that he wasn’t happy about it.

“No!” Luke shouts and then looks at me, scared. “My teeth are fine.” He says in a normal voice. “I don’t need to go there.”

“I know, technically you don’t but what could I tell Emily? _‘I don’t think he needs to go because his teeth don’t decay thanks to the genetic makeup these aliens The Bane gave him._ ’ I don’t think that would go well.” I laugh a bit, but then stop. “It’ll be alright.”

“What are they going to do?” Luke asks sounding scared. Not as scared as when I brought up the doctor visit, but that could change.

“Emily said that you only have to get your teeth looked at and anything fixed if needed, but there won’t be anything so it’ll be quick.” I say, but it doesn’t make Luke feel any better. It actually for some reason, seemed to make him more upset. “Hey, it’ll be alright.” I put my hand on his shoulder as he starts to shake his head.

“I don’t want to go.” Luke says.

“I know.”

“There’s no reason for me to go.” Luke states in a matter of fact. He was right. There really isn’t but it’s not like I could tell them that. And surly there might be a reason that didn’t involve aliens but I don’t know how they would feel about me not wanting to take him to a dentist. It would raise questions and maybe they would deem me as unfit parent. I would not take any chances.

“I know.”

“I shouldn’t have to go.”

“I know, Luke. I’m sorry, but I have to take you. There isn’t a way around this.” Luke turns away from me, upset. I sighed, trying to figure out how to make this better; it didn’t seem like there was. He had to go and he wasn’t happy about it. What can I do?

“Luke. It won’t hurt.” I tell him, hoping it gave him a little reassurance. I mean, it couldn’t hurt if he was just being examined. I gently get his head to turn back so he was looking at me. It seemed like there was something going on. Was there some reason he had for not wanting to go that I didn’t know? Maybe. But maybe he’s just scared like any child— _any person_ would be. He just looked really scared.

“Come here.” I say and Luke wraps his arms around me. I rub his back and I feel his body go from rigid to relaxed. I rub circles on his back and it seemed to help calm him down. “Now I promise it’ll be okay. It’ll be quick. Won’t take long for you to be looked at. And I’ll be with you the entire time.” At least knowing that might help him feel calmer about this. It did when it came to the doctor’s last week.

“Promise?” I hear Luke ask.

“Yes, Luke. I promise.”

* * *

Luke’s POV

Not too long later we were going to the dentist’s. It felt like we were there in minutes. The place smelled exactly like that doctor’s office she took me to. Why did they have to smell like this? It wasn’t exactly the best smell. The layout of the waiting room was similar to the doctor’s office too except the chairs were a harder, the walls were painted a pale yellow instead of white, and there were toys in one corner—I guess for little kids.

I watched as Sarah Jane filled out some things on paper. I saw her put ‘Luke Smith’ again for the name. I smile a bit; it was nice looking.

“Luke Smith.” I say. Sarah Jane looks over at me and smiles. “Should I call you mum, then?” I ask. That’s what people say to refer to her when talking to me.

“No, Sarah Jane’s fine.” She says and I nod.

I figured.

It’s just something for the forms. Yeah. That’s right. She said I needed a last name and this would make sense for the time being.

She didn’t actually want me.

It was only a matter of time before she got rid of me.

She handed the forms to the woman at reception and then sat down next to me. I felt her touch my shoulder and then rub it bit. It felt nice, but it wasn’t making me feel any better. I didn’t want to be here.

“Luke.” I look up at hearing my name and see a man in dark green scrubs. “Would you follow me, please?” I didn’t want to. But I didn’t want to get in trouble by any of these people or Sarah Jane so I got up and followed. I stopped at the doorway to this hallway and looked back to make sure Sarah Jane was following; she was. I started walking again until we reached a room. The walls inside were painted a dark red color with a couple framed pictures on the wall. There was a counter with a sink and drawers. On the counter were metal trays. I looked over to the middle of the room and there was this big crème colored chair with a light hanging above it. Next to it, on the right, were two stools, and then on the left a regular chair like they had in the waiting room.

I jumped as the door behind me is shut. It wasn’t a loud bang or anything—it just startled me. “Can you sit on the chair?” I look over and see another man whom was now sitting on one of the stools next to the man who led Sarah Jane and I back here. I assume they wanted me to sit in the big chair.

I didn’t want to.

I looked over when I felt Sarah Jane take my hand. She was being nice. I guess I should do what I’m told before they start not being nice.

I walked over and sat in the chair, not letting go of Sarah Jane’s hand. When I sat down they clipped something around my neck. What was that for? And why was there two men here? Did they really need two? I get one had to be this dentist, but what was the other one here for? I jolted at feeling the back of the chair move. It kept moving until I was laid down, parallel to the floor. This felt uncomfortable—more uncomfortable than before. Then this bright light shined in my eyes for second before being moved. I looked over to my left at hearing this clanging sound. Two metal tools were being held under my bottom lip. One had a mirror on the end and the other, it resembled a hook. What was that for? What did they need that for?

“Okay Luke, just open your mouth and I’ll take a look.” The man says. I look and try to see him, but I can’t see him. I can only see the light and the tools being held under my lip.

I shake my head.

I feel Sarah Jane squeeze my hand.

I shake my head again. No, I didn’t want to.

“Luke, it’s okay.” I hear Sarah Jane say and I shake my head. It wasn’t okay. If I didn’t do what they wanted they would get mad. If I did what they want, they would find it and I didn’t want them to find it. They would be mad and hurt me. Either way—it wouldn’t be okay.

* * *

_“Make sure you get everything!” My foster father yelled as I continued to mop the floor. It was my fault. I knocked a glass of lemonade onto the floor. I had just cleaned up the shards. But now I had to mop so it wasn’t sticky._

_I made a mess and I had to clean it._

_I finished and then dumped the water outside. I took a breath, it was sort of nice to be outside for a change. They never really let me go outside, except once when they needed me to run inside a store for them._

_I wish I could just run. I wish I could just run and get away from them. But I don’t know where I am really. I don’t know where I would go. It’s not like I had a family or anything waiting for me. Apparently these people are supposed to be my family now._

_So I dump the water and go inside. Leaving would be stupid._

_I go out into the living room where my foster parents were watching a movie. They looked up and then handed me a bowl that had a couple pieces of popcorn in it. “Go clean it.” He demanded. I took it into the kitchen, forgetting the floor was still wet and slipped. My face hit the bowl and I yell out in pain—well I started to but I cover my mouth. If I interrupted their movie, they’d beat me._

_I covered my mouth so there’s no noise._

_I manage to sit up. I look at the bowl, which is fine, except—there was a red spot. Was that there before? No. I touched it. Wet. I think it is blood. Did it come from me?_

_I take my hand off my mouth and feel this pain. It hit me like a shock wave. It really hurt. I then felt something in my mouth. I spit it out into my hand. Along with some blood, it was something white. Was that a tooth? It didn’t look like a whole tooth._

_I felt it._

_The back of my mouth, something felt strange. Not only did it hurt, it felt off. I guess this was a piece of my tooth._

_I stand up and clean the bowl like they wanted._

_I then go downstairs to the cellar. It’s the only place I could lay down. I didn’t like it because it got really dark this time of night, but I didn’t want them to see me. There a was a little bit of light coming in as the door was open and I did steal a flashlight from their room while they were working. I needed it. Especially now that it was dark; I hated the dark._

_I looked at the piece of tooth in my hand as my mouth aches. It hurt really badly. I wanted to cry because of how much it hurt, but I couldn’t; they might hear me. And besides, I’m too old for that. I’m not a child._

_I shouldn’t cry._

_In the morning, my foster mother was home and she had me make her breakfast. I made her favorite. I watched her from the kitchen, trying to ignore the acute ache at the back of my mouth._

_Maybe I should tell her. Isn’t that what people do when they’re hurt?_

_I don’t know what she could do, but maybe she could give me something? Or tell me what I can do to make it stop hurting. I mean, she isn’t exactly the nicest, but she was nicer than my foster father. She didn’t hurt me as much as he does._

_I slowly walked over to her. I just looked at her—I couldn’t say anything. What could I say?_

_“What do you want?” She asks bitterly. “I can tell you want something.”_

_“I-I”_

_“JUST SPIT IT OUT!” She yells and flinch. I hate it when they yell._

_“M-My tooth hurts.” I say._

_“Well what do you want me to do about it?”_

_“I-I don’t know—is there a-anything to make it stop h-hurting?” I stutter. Though she doesn’t hurt me that much—only when I really piss her off—but she does yell a lot. And I’m scared of what she’ll do. What if she told my foster dad and he did something?_

_She then starts to laugh. What was funny? Why was she laughing?_

_“Yeah…sure…but that costs money.” She says and I frown. I should have known it was stupid to ask. They don’t have money—or much of it—and if they did, they certainly wouldn’t spend it on me. They have said that before. Many times._

_I start to walk away when she pulls my arm._

_“Because that was so funny and this breakfast was so good, I’m going to be nice and not tell George about that toothache.” She says. Wait, what would he do if he knew?_

_“Wh-What--?” I didn’t get to ask as she cut in._

_“Well let’s just say it would hurt…a lot!” She starts to laugh again and I quickly go run into the bathroom. I close the door and sit on the floor. I cry. It hurt so badly, how was I going to keep this from George? If he found out it would hurt and I knew he would be mad. But I would have to find a way._

_Why did I have to be so stupid and do this to myself?_

* * *

“Luke—Luke!” I look over to Sarah Jane when she yells my name. Was she mad? She probably was. I wasn’t listening. I wasn’t doing what they told me to do.

I know I should do it, but I’m scared. I didn’t want to.

“It’s alright. They won’t hurt you.” Sarah Jane says and I glance over. I still can’t see them. Just the tools and that bright light. They didn’t look nice. They looked like it would hurt. And when they found out what I was hiding they would be angry. They would be angry and hurt me.

“Luke, please.” Sarah Jane says and I look at her, she didn’t look angry. “I promise it’ll be alright. I’m right here.” She says and rubs the back of my hand with her palm. Oh, that felt so nice. She would never do that again once she found what I was hiding. But I didn’t want her to be angry. Maybe if I opened my mouth now she won’t be as mad.

I open my mouth.

I really hope she doesn’t yell, at least not until we’re out of here.

I don’t want those men yelling at me too.

I get startled when I feel the metal being tapped against my teeth. It didn’t hurt, but it startled me. I didn’t know they were going to do that. Why were they doing that? I squeeze Sarah Jane’s hand as I feel the tools moving towards the back. They are getting closer to it. They’re going to see it.

“Oh, what happened here?” I hear the one man ask.

“What do you mean?” I hear Sarah Jane ask.

“Well this molar here. A part of the tooth is gone.” He tells her. I shut my eyes; they knew now. I feel Sarah Jane move; she’s probably looking to see what they are talking about; she was. I opened my eyes to see her looking in. “And I’d say by the look of it, that this has been causing him a bit of pain.”

I couldn’t chew on that side. Not after that. It still aches frequently, but I ignore it for the most part. I’ve gotten used to it—well for the most part. Sometimes it hurts so bad, I want to cry. But I don’t. I had to live with it and I have. I’ve been living with it fine.

“Luke?” Sarah Jane says, in the form of a question as the tools were removed from my mouth. I look away. I couldn’t look at her. I knew she was angry.

“We’ll be back shortly.” I hear the same man say and he gets up, along with the one next to him and they leave. Why did they both leave? Oh right, probably giving her alone time so she could yell at me. I closed my eyes and braced for it.

“Luke, why didn’t you tell me?” Sarah Jane asks. I don’t answer.

“Luke, you’ve been hurting this whole time.” She states. “You never said anything.” Was she talking to me? She already knew these things. Maybe she was just stating a matter of facts. Yeah, maybe.

“Luke, we talked about this. We talked about you telling me things like this.” Sarah Jane says and I squeeze my eyes tightly. She was right. She told me tell her about stuff like this. She wanted to know about these things, but I didn’t tell her. I couldn’t. I couldn’t tell her though. I couldn’t.

“Luke, why didn’t you tell me?!” Sarah Jane asks, her voice was louder.

She was mad. She was angry. What if she did something like my foster parents did?

I started to cry.

I don’t want her to be angry with me, though I know I deserve it.

Sarah Jane’s POV

I shouted. I didn’t mean to shout, but it just came out. I was upset. I thought Luke knew he could tell me these things. I thought he would tell me these things. But he kept _this_ from me.

I could have gotten him help. Sooner.

Maybe that’s another reason why he hasn’t been eating. It would be hard to eat with that.

I don’t understand why he did this.

But then I felt my heart sink as Luke started to cry.

 _Oh no._ “Oh Luke. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to shout—“ I put my hand on his shoulder which made him flinch away, scared. Something seemed really wrong. He seemed _scared_. Was he scared of me? Why? Why was he scared of me?

“Shhhh, Luke.” I sooth and I start to stroke his hair. He seemed to like me doing that so maybe that would calm him down. “It’s alright. Please don’t cry.” I couldn’t handle this. I didn’t like seeing him crying. It broke my heart. It hurt to see him so upset; so hurt and scared. After a minute—or two—he stopped sobbing. Tears were still rolling down his cheeks, but it wasn’t as much so.

“Y-You’re angry.”

“Oh no, Luke, I’m not angry.” I say. How could I be angry at him? If anything, I was just upset. But I wasn’t angry at him. “I didn’t mean to yell, I was just—why didn’t you tell me?” I then ask. I had to understand what was going on here.

“Y-You would be angry.”

“Why would I be angry?” I ask.

“Because. I did this.” Luke says pointing to his cheek. How could I be angry about that? I mean, I seriously doubt he did it on purpose. If anything, I’m just upset that he didn’t tell me earlier. All this time he’s been in pain and I didn’t even know it.

“I’m not mad, Luke. I promise.” I tell him as I wipe the fresh tears away.

“And it would hurt.” Luke adds. “They said it would hurt.”

“Who said that? Your foster parents?” I ask and Luke nods.

“She promised not to tell him. She said if he found out, it would hurt a lot.” Luke says and I frown. Why did I have this feeling that when they told him that, they weren’t talking about seeing a dentist? Probably because I was right.

I close my eyes, trying to calm myself down. I felt rage building up at thinking about those people. What they did to Luke. What they said to Luke. Thinking about that just made me so angry. They hurt him. They hurt him so badly, it pains me to think about.

I kiss Luke on the forehead and smile at him.

“Everything is going to be alright, Luke. I promise.” I tell him as I then rub my hands back and forth on both sides of his. We could get through this. We _would_ get through this.

The dentist and his assistant came back in the room minutes later. By then, Luke had completely stopped crying and he seemed less tense about the whole thing; hopefully it stayed that way.

“You feeling okay, Luke?” The dentist asks Luke whom nods. I guess he felt better with the whole ordeal off his chest.

“Are you going to fix it?” Luke asks, referring to his tooth.

“Yes, we are.” He tells him. “Now first before we start doing that, we have to give you a little medicine, so it doesn’t hurt when we fix it.” He explains to him and Luke nods, but then he looked over in the direction of the assistant whom was filling up the syringe with the anesthetic.

“No.” Luke says and then looks between the dentist and me. He looks scared and confused. I guess it would be confusing for him. He says they have to give him something so it doesn’t hurt, but this _something_ hurts. I knew that was probably what was running through his head. But I knew there probably wasn’t a nicer way to have put that.

“Don’t worry, it only hurts for a few seconds.” The assistant says; oh why did he say that? I mean he was right, that was fact, but it wasn’t helping the situation.

“Luke, just take some deep breaths.” The dentist tells him calmly. “Now you just need to close your eyes and open up nice and wide. It’ll be over quickly—“ I knew they were trying. They really were trying to help, but it wasn’t helping. It seemed to just work him up more.

“MUM!” Luke cried and I just stroked his hair. I didn’t know what else I could do that could help calm him down.

“Oh Luke, it’s alright. You’re gonna be alright, I promise.” I tell him

“It’s going to hurt.”

“Only a few seconds. It’ll be quick.” I say. I know that wasn’t much comfort, but I wasn’t going to lie to him. That would only make him not trust me later; I didn’t want that. I wasn’t going to do that. “I’m right here. Just squeeze my hand.” I tell him and I kiss the back side of his hand. I smile at him and he shuts his eyes. The grip on my hand got tighter and Luke opened his mouth. I felt Luke squeeze tighter, but he didn’t make sound of any kind as they gave him the injection. He didn’t make any sound during the rest of time we were there. He just had a tight grip on my hand; which I didn’t mind. He didn’t let go of my hand until we were leaving.

* * *

Luke’s POV

I did something stupid. I called her ‘mum’ even though I know she didn’t want me to do that. I wasn’t her real kid. She wasn’t my real mother. I shouldn’t have said that, but it just came out. I got scared and—it was stupid.

“Luke? Is something wrong?” Sarah Jane asks me as she pulls into the driveway of her house. I shake my head. She didn’t even remember, I wouldn’t remind her; I didn’t want her to be mad.

She had decided that we would do shopping for school another day. She also decided we would go get food later. I guess it was a good thing because my face felt strange. She told me it was because of the injection they gave me; I guess this is better than the option of feeling whatever it was they had to do.

I went into the kitchen and got a glass of water. I drank it—or at least tried to—it ended up going all over my shirt and the floor.

Sarah Jane came in and she started to laugh when she saw me. “Oh sorry, I probably should have told you. That will happen.” She says. So that was normal? “Probably best not to have anything until that feeling goes away.”

I nod. I look down and back at her. She doesn’t seem angry that I made a mess. I back up into the table—not intentionally—and then turn around at seeing the blue vase that had been sitting there wobble. It fell off the table and went onto the floor. _Oh no_.

I look up at Sarah Jane, scared at what she was going to do to me now that I have broken something, on top of making a mess. _Stupid. Why are you always ruining everything?!_ I felt tears brimming in my eyes and my stomach turned. I was scared. What was she going to do? Will she hit me? Will she yell at me? Both?

“Luke? Are you hurt?” Sarah Jane asks and I shake my head.

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” I say and I start shaking, terrified of what was going to happen to me. I knew something had to happen. I broke something. I made a mess. I did bad things so I was in trouble. I wonder what she does as punishment.

“Luke, Luke, hey, it’s alright.” I look up at Sarah Jane rubbing my shoulders gently.

“You’re not going to punish me?” I ask, scared. Though she looked as she always did. She didn’t look mad or angry. She looked worried—I think.

“What? Luke, no.” Sarah Jane says as she strokes my hair. “It was an accident, right?” She asks and I nod quickly. Well, yeah, I never want to break anything. It just happens. “Well how could I be mad?” She answers in the form of another question. “And the water—you couldn’t help that. It’s my fault for not telling you.” She says. She was blaming herself for that?

“Come on. Let’s get you out of here.” She says, I guess she didn’t want me in here with the shards on the floor. “Careful.” She says as she helps me into the living room.

“Why don’t you go put on a new shirt?” She tells me and I nod. I guess I should put one on that’s dry. “And then can you go grab the dustpan from the attic?” I nod at that and start to go upstairs to my bedroom.

“Luke!” She calls and I stop.

“And even if you ever did something wrong—if I was ever mad—I would never hurt you.” Sarah Jane says. I nod, she hadn’t lied to me yet. Though I was hesitant to believe that, she hadn’t ever lied to me. She had been nothing but nice to me. So maybe she was telling the truth.

I smile a bit at that. She would never hurt me.

I changed into a light green and white striped shirt. I then went upstairs into the attic and looked from what she needed. As I grabbed it, I knocked some papers down on the floor. I pick them up, but then I see this check.

It was for 600 pounds.

The check—where it’s from—the type—it just seemed really familiar. I’ve seen this type of check before. I think even for the same amount.

* * *

_I was cleaning up the office. My foster mother, Silvia, said it needed to be clean for this weekend. Apparently she was having her sister over or something—I didn’t really pay attention to the details. It’s not like it mattered to me. When that happened, I’d be locked in the cellar._

_I was almost finished. I had swept, dusted, and polished everything that needed it. The room looked better than it did when I first got here. Now I just had to organize this pile of papers that were sitting on top of each other all spread out over the desk. There were a bunch of papers. I didn’t know what they were for so it could take me awhile to sort them all._

_But I had time._

_My foster father didn’t get home for hours and my foster mother shouldn’t care how long I take unless it’s clean in the end._

_I sort through the papers, most of it are bill receipts. There were tons of those. They went back almost twenty years. I thought maybe I should throw them out, but I wasn’t sure. Maybe they had a reason for still having them, that wasn’t just because of the clutter. Maybe they wanted them for a reason.I didn’t want to get in trouble so I wouldn’t throw them out. I put them in the pile with the rest of them. Then there were some other stuff I didn’t understand._

_But then I found this check._

_It was for 600 pounds and it was from the fostering agency._

_“Hey!” I jump and turn around to see my foster mother standing there. “What the hell are you doing standing around?” She questions me and I watch as the check falls onto the floor. “Oh shit…” She mutters and walks over to me. I want to back up but there’s nowhere I can as a desk is behind me. I’m stuck._

_She lets out some kind of moan as she bends down to pick up the check. “You useless—“ She stops at seeing what had fallen on the floor. She then smacks me. “You shit! You shouldn’t be going through our business!” She yells and I flinch away from her shouts. I hated yelling._

_“I-I’m sorry.”_

_“Yeah. You should be.” She says. “You can throw the rest of those papers out.” She says. Okay, so she didn’t want those bills or anything. It seemed she only wanted that check as she didn’t put it down._

_“I thought you didn’t have money.” I mutter to myself._

_“WHAT WAS THAT?!” I jump in a startle. I didn’t think she heard me. “SPEAK!”_

_“Y-You always s-say you don’t have mo-money. You d-don’t have m-much money. But that’s a check for money.” I stutter and carefully look up at her._

_“Yes. We have this extra money thanks to you.” She says. What? Me?_

_“M-Me?”_

_“Yeah. They give us money every month for having you.” She tells me._

_“Me.” I say silently. They had money because of me. I guess that’s why the check was from the fostering agency. Why did they always say they didn’t have money—or not much money? That’s what they always told me whenever I said I was hungry or if I wanted— needed anything. They said they didn’t have the money to spend._

_“Why do you think we put up with you?” She asks and I look up. “If it wasn’t for this money, why would we keep a piece of shit like you?” I look down, feeling tears in my eyes, but I don’t let them fall. I can’t. “So consider yourself lucky. It’s not like anyone else would want you. You’re stupid, worthless, and—well no one else would want you._

_She walks out and I stand there. I let the tears silently fall._

_I was only there for the money._

* * *

Sarah Jane had the exact same check. It was the same amount from the agency.

She was just like them.

She only wanted me for the money.

“Luke?” I hear Sarah Jane call, but I don’t move. I don’t answer. I just stand there, staring at the check, feeling the tears fill my eyes. I thought she liked me. I thought maybe she wanted me. I was starting to think maybe she wouldn’t get rid of me—but I was wrong. Of course I was wrong. It’s like they said; no one could ever want me.

“Luke, did you find it?” I hear Sarah Jane question. She was in the attic now, but I didn’t move. I wasn’t going to look at her. “Hey.” She says and then turns me around so I was looking at her. I watched as her smile faded into a frown. “Hey, what’s the matter?”

I look away.

“Luke, what’s wrong?” She asks and then looks down at my hand. “What’s this?” She asks and I throw it onto the ground. I then run out of the attic, turn left into my room so I can crash onto my bed. I then started to cry.

She didn’t want me. She just wanted money.

Sarah Jane’s POV

Luke ran out of the attic and I just looked at the paper he threw onto the floor. What happened? I picked it up and I sighed. He found the check. _Oh no_. I did know that there would be some money. Emily had told me when I was in the process of becoming a foster parent.

I knew what Luke was thinking. But it wasn’t true. I wasn’t doing this for the money.

I put down the check and then quickly went to look for Luke. I could see him in his room and I could hear whimpers. I sat down on his bed and he moves further away from me.

“Luke.” I say. What could I say? Would he even believe me? “Can we talk?”

He doesn’t answer.

“Luke, I know what you’re thinking, but it’s not like that.” I say.

“Yeah right.” Luke says in disbelief. I could hear how upset he was in his voice, followed by a sniffle.

“Luke, I—“

“Why don’t you just send me back now and get it over with.”

“Luke, I’m not—I would never send you away.”

“Yeah. That’s right. You want the money, so you won’t.” Luke remarks. I sigh, how was I going to get him to believe me? “You’re just like them.” Luke says, his voice breaking. “They only had me for the money.” I hear him start to cry and I felt like crying myself. Luke has been hurt so much in only two months. Those people hurt him. Even when they weren’t doing it physically, they hurt him. I am not like that. I would never hurt him. And I certainly wouldn’t have him here because I could get some more money.

“I want you.” I say.

“No.”

“Luke, I want you. I don’t want the money. I want you.” I tell him as I touch his shoulder. “I-I love you.” I say. I meant it. I really did mean it.

“Stop lying!” Luke yells and my heart sinks.

“I’m not—I do—I love you.” I say. “I really do.”

“I’m not even your kid.” Luke states.

“You are, Luke. You are my son.” I say. I told him I wanted him even before Emily came and took him from me. I am doing this all for him. I will do anything for him. I love him. He may not be mine biologically, but he is mine. I love him.

“You don’t even want me to call you mum.” Luke says and I frown. I didn’t think about that. Did I make him think that I didn’t want him? I didn’t mean it that way.

“Luke—I didn’t mean it like that.” I tell him as I rub circles on his back. “I just didn’t want you to call me that if you weren’t comfortable with it. I didn’t want you to think you had to.” I didn’t want him to think he had to call me ‘mum’ if he wasn’t ready for that. I wouldn’t mind it if he did.

“You don’t want me.” He says, convinced.

“Luke, look at me.” I say, a bit stern this time. If I was going to get him to believe me, he had to really listen to me.

“Luke, I want you. I’ve wanted you from that day I met you. When Emily came to get you that day, I felt like my heart had been ripped out. I became a foster parent because she gave me hope— _hope_ , that I could have you with me. Then I found you in the grocery store—if I didn’t care about you I could have just walked away like anyone else. But I didn’t. I wasn’t going to let her hurt you anymore.” I tell him as I hold his cheek a bit firmly so he doesn’t turn away. “You are here because I want you here. Not because of some money they give me. I have made it clear to Emily that I want to adopt you. You don’t get money for that.” I hope Luke gets what I am trying my best to explain to him.

“I don’t want any money.” I tell him as I feel a tear escape my eye at the same time as his keep falling down his cheeks. “I want you, Luke. I love you.”

Luke goes to me and I embrace him in my arms. He starts to sob and I just hold him tightly in my arms. I let my hand run up from his back to his head. My fingers run back and forth through his hair and I just hold him so tightly, not wanting to let go.

“Th-They said no-no one would ever w-want me.” Luke says in sobs.

“They were wrong, Luke.” I tell him, in all honesty. “Oh Luke, I want you and I love you.” I feel Luke grab hold of me and then place his head on my shoulder. He felt relaxed now. “I love you so much, Luke.” I repeat. I would say it for as long as I needed to. As long as it took, Luke just needed to know I love him. He needed to know I love him and nothing would ever change that.

“I love you too, mum.” Luke says and I smile.   
  



	7. First Day of School

**Disclaimer: I do not own Sarah Jane Adventures. I only own my OCs and the plot.**

* * *

Luke’s POV

_Emily was driving the car. She said she was taking me to live with this couple. Their names are George and Silvia. She said they could be my family. I don’t know those people yet, but I’m just happy to be out of that children’s home. It was horrible there. I doubt this home—these people—could be any worse than the children’s home._

_They smiled at me once Emily showed me inside. Emily stayed for a couple minutes and then left. This place seemed nice. George and Silvia seemed nice. Maybe I would be safe here._

_ I was wrong. _

_They made dinner and I sat at the table. It was grilled chicken with peppers and onions. The chicken was good, but I didn’t like the peppers or the onions._

_“Now we do have rules here.” I remember hearing Silvia say as we ate. I nodded, I assume there would be. There were rules at the children’s home too. We had to all be in bed by ten and we were not allowed to go anywhere after curfew. There were a bunch of other ones, but not many people followed them. They were supposed to be nice to everyone there, but no one was nice to me. “Do you like your dinner?” She asks me._

_“The chicken is good. Thank you.” I say. The adults at the home taught everyone how to be polite. I did want these people to like me so maybe being polite would help._

_“What about the peppers? And the onions?” George asks. “Silvia grew them herself right outside.”_

_I frown. But I guess they wouldn’t be mad since no one liked everything. Everyone was different._

_“I don’t really like peppers—“_

_“YOU SHOULD APPREIATE THAT YOU HAVE FOOD!” Silvia yells and I gulp. “Anyways, it doesn’t matter. You’ll be cooking from now on.” She says. What? I have to cook from now on? I don’t know how to cook._

_“But I don’t know how to cook.” I say._

_“Well you’ll have to figure it out.” She says bitterly. She sounded different now. She didn’t sound like the nice lady she was when Emily first brought me here. She sounded bitter and angry. “You can’t be living and be getting food all for free. You have to work for it.” She says as she gets up from the table. “Do you understand?!” She says, her voice getting louder. I nodded quickly. I didn’t want them to hate me when I have not even been here a full day yet. I go to pick up my glass of milk, but accidently knock it over._

_“OH SHIT!” George yells. “WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO THAT FOR?!” I look between the two adults. Both of them looked really angry. I didn’t mean to do it. Why would I mean to do it?_

_“I-I didn’t mean—“ I start to say, but then George slaps me. “I-I’m sorry.” I stutter. I didn’t mean to knock it over. I was just going to have a sip of my drink. Why would I want to make a mess?_

_“George, why don’t you show him what happens when he misbehaves.” I hear Silvia tell her husband, whom nods before turning back to me. What did that mean? What was he going to do? He then picks me up by the shirt and drags me downstairs to the cellar. He then starts to hit me. He hits me multiple times. I yell out._

_“S-Stop!” I yell, but he doesn’t stop. He keeps hitting me. “PLEASE STOP!”_

_“THIS IS YOUR FAULT! THIS IS YOUR PUNISHMENT! SO TAKE IT!” He continues to hit me and I cry out. I just want it to stop. Why do I have to get punished? I didn’t mean to make a mess._

_“SHUT UP!” He yells, but I can’t stop. It hurts. I just want it to stop._

* * *

“NO!” I yell. I sit straight up trying to catch my breath. I look around and see—I’m in my bedroom. I’m not _there_. I’m at Sarah Jane’s house. I’m in my bedroom.

“Luke!” I turn towards the direction of my door at hearing my name. Sarah Jane then comes inside, looking at me, concerned. I must have woken her up with my screams; I shouldn’t have done that. _Stupid!_

“Are you alright?” She asks me as she sits down on my bed, next to me. I nodded, still trying to catch my breath. That was scary. It was like still being there. I remember that night. I remember Emily dropping me off, being so relieved to be out of the children’s home. But after an hour with them, I would have given _anything_ to go back.

I look up at feeling Sarah Jane rub circles on my back. She then embraces me into her arms, which made me feel a little better. “Do you want to talk about it?” She asks me and I shake my head. We do this every time I have a nightmare. I never want to talk about it. I can’t. It’s not like it will help. There’s no point in talking about it. Why does she want to know anyways? “It’s alright.” She says and I lay my head on her shoulder. This was so comforting. It made me feel better. A lot better.

I didn’t want her to let go, but she did.

“You feel better now?” Sarah Jane asks me and I nod. I always felt better with her here. Sarah Jane always made everything better. “Now you should get some more sleep. You have school in the morning.”

I frown. Oh right, I start school tomorrow. I didn’t want to go to school.

“Would you feel better if you stayed with me for the rest of the night?” Sarah Jane asks me and I nodded. I liked that. I liked staying with her, but I tried not to do it because I knew she didn’t really like me ending up in her bed when she woke up. “Alright. Come on.”

I follow her into her bedroom. I get under the covers after she gets in bed and then lay my head against her shoulder when she wraps an arm around me. This felt so nice. I always felt better with her here. I never had bad dreams when she was with me.

“Goodnight Luke.” She says after she kisses the top of my head.

“Goodnight mum.” I say.

* * *

Sarah Jane’s POV

I wake up at seven. I look down and see Luke sleeping peacefully in my arms. I don’t really want to wake him, but I knew if I didn’t he’d be late. I don’t want him to be late on his first day. “Luke.” I say softly in his ear. He moves a little, but doesn’t open his eyes. “Luke, you need to wake up.” I say a bit louder this time as I stroke his hair.

He opens his eyes and looks up at me. “You have to get ready.” I say once he was fully awake. “Come on, you change into your uniform and I’ll make some tea, alright?” Luke nods and then gets out of bed, going into his bedroom.

I put the kettle on and then go back upstairs to get dressed. By the time I got back downstairs, looking was sitting down on the table. I go over to him and button up his shirt. “Where’s your tie?” I ask, noticing he didn’t have that on.

“I don’t know how to do it.” Luke says.

“Well I’ll help you with it after breakfast, alright?” I tell him and Luke nods. He sits down at the table and eats the bowl of cereal I poured for him. I then stand at the counter debating whether I should make him a lunch or give him money to get it there. Which would be better? Maybe I’ll give him money today and if he doesn’t like the food there, I can make then. But if he likes it, then I’ll just give him money for the canteen.

I get ten pounds out of my purse and hand it to him. “What’s this for?”

“Lunch.” I tell him and he puts the money into his pants pocket. After he finished breakfast he went back upstairs to finish getting ready and he then came back down with his tie. I bring him over to the mirror on the wall in the hallway and do his tie, so he could know how to do it himself. “There you go.” I say. He then follows me back into the kitchen where I put a few pieces of fruit in his backpack, along with making sure that he had everything he needed. He had the notebooks, pens and pencils, and his money. He seemed all set.

I glance at the clock. We really should get going. Maria was going to meet us in front of the school and show Luke around before classes begin. “Come on, Luke! In the car!” I call as I grab my jacket and car keys. I head out the door and as I was opening the door to get in, I noticed Luke wasn’t following.

I wonder what’s keeping him.

I shut the car and door and walk inside. I find him sitting on the stairs, looking down at the carpet. “Luke, we have to go.” I say and he looks up at me with the expression of worry. I sit down next to him and he turns away from me.

“What’s wrong?”

“I don’t want to go.” Luke says.

“Luke—“ I start to say, but before I can get another word out he starts to speak again.

“Can’t I stay here? Why do I need to go to school? Mr. Smith can teach me here and I’d probably learn more from him.” Luke says and I grin a bit at that. He probably was right in that sense. Mr. Smith was a supercomputer and would know more than anyone on this planet. But I couldn’t keep Luke here all the time. He needed to get out into the world. Experience it. He needed to make friends. He couldn’t do that if he stayed here all the time, only to get out for shopping runs.

That wouldn’t be good for him.

“Luke.” I start to say, but I stop at his name. How could I explain this to him? What is the right way to say this? “I want you to have as much as a normal life I can give you. And keeping you at home with Mr. Smith teaching you wouldn’t be doing that. You’ll go to school like a regular boy your age. You’ll make friends.”

“I don’t need friends. I have you.” Luke says and my heart warmed a bit at that. “I don’t want to go.”

I put my hands on his cheeks and look at him seriously. “Luke, you have to go to school.”

I looks away from me and frowns. I could tell then that the reason he didn’t want to go to school wasn’t because he thought it was pointless. But because he was scared. I could see the fear not only in his eyes, but in his body. He was tense and tapping his foot.

“What’s scaring you?” I ask.

“What if I’m stupid?”

“Nonsense! You’re brilliant!” I say. How could Luke even think of something like that?

“What if I do or say something stupid? What if I make a mistake?” Luke asks me. Okay, I understand what he meant now. He was smart, but he just didn’t want to say or do the wrong things that might get him into trouble. I knew Luke hated being in trouble. He was always scared that I would be angry with him.

“Everyone makes mistakes, Luke.” I tell him. Even if the Bane created him as the perfect human being, he wasn’t perfect. But nobody is.

“What if no one likes me?”

I frown at that. He seemed more scared of that than anything. I knew it could happen. Well, I knew not everyone was going to Luke. Not everyone likes everyone. I wish I could tell him that everyone would like him but I couldn’t.

“Well, I know there will be people that will like you. And then it won’t matter if there is someone that doesn’t. You’ll have people that love and care about you.” I tell him.

“What if they try to hurt me?”

“Well, that shouldn’t happen.” I wanted to give him some reassurance. And I knew Maria would look after him there so he shouldn’t have to worry about it. “And if you ever need help, the teachers are there for you. Maria will be there for you. And I’m here for you, always. I’m just a call away.”

Luke smiles at me and I give him a hug.

“I’m always here if you need anything, Luke.” I add as I rub his back. I’m sure he would be fine and eventually he will love school. I know he will probably be the smartest one there.

“You ready to go?” I ask and Luke nods. He follows me to the car and gets in the passenger seat. And sometimes during the week I had to work. I had put stuff off for the last couple of weeks because of Luke, which I didn’t really mind. Spending the extra time with him was lovely. But I do need to get back to my job.

I slowly drive. We didn’t need to hurry as it was only around the corner. Oh, why did I bother driving? Oh right, I have to go into town to deal with some—aliens. Mr. Smith had picked up some activity nearby and I would have to go check it out.

“Mum.” I hear Luke say and glance at him. “You’ll be there when I get back. Right?”

Why was he asking? As I come to a stop, I look at him. He seemed scared that I might not be there. “Of course, Luke.” I say as I rub his shoulder. “I’ll pick you up. I promised Maria and Clyde a lift home.” I tell him.

“Who’s Clyde?” Oh right, he didn’t know him. But I knew Maria probably would introduce them.

“A friend of Maria’s.” I tell him. “Now, Luke, I will never leave you, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“Promise?” Luke asks. “I like it here. With you. And I don’t want to go anywhere else.”

“I promise.” I reassure him and stop out front of the school. I see Maria in my rearview mirror, approaching along with Clyde and another girl. I’m sure he’d have friends before today was even over. I turn to him and smile warmly at him, hoping it helps him feel less scared; it doesn’t seem to that much. “Maria will look after you and I will see you after school.” I tell him and give him a kiss on the cheek.

“B-Bye. Mum.” Luke says as he gets out the car. I then drive away.

I really hope he has a good day.

* * *

Luke’s POV

I watch as Sarah Jane drive away and then turn to see Maria along with a boy and girl following her. These must be her friends. “Luke!” Maria says and gives me a hug. I grin a bit. At least she was here. I wasn’t completely by myself. Though she would probably get rid of me after a while as she had her own friends.

“Hi Maria.” I say as she lets go of me. I look at two others that were standing side by side to her. The boy had darker skin and was wearing a maroon hoodie with his school uniform. Then the other girl had curly hair, which a part of it she had pulled back. She was also wearing a leather jacket with her uniform. Were they allowed? I guess so.

“You’re Luke?” The boy asks me and I nod. His fist comes towards me and I flinch away. Was he about to hit me? Why? Why was he going to hit me? I didn’t do anything. “You alright, mate?” I hear him ask and look to see his fist—it was just there. I then put my hand in a fist and touched mine with his.

Oh. Fist bump. I’ve seen people do that on telly.

_Have I done something stupid already?_

“I’m Clyde.” He says. So this was the Clyde that Sarah Jane mentioned. He seemed okay. At least he wasn’t going to hit me.

“And this is my other friend, Jessie.” Maria adds in, referring to the girl next to her.

“So I’m your _other_ friend?” The girl, Jessie, asks Maria. “Wow, thanks for that!”

“Shut up!” Maria says and starts laughing. I flinched at hearing that, but the other girl didn’t seem affected by it. Maybe I shouldn’t be. Yeah, I shouldn’t be bothered. They weren’t even talking to me. “Anyways, I’m going to show Luke around. I catch you two later.” Maria says and her friends leave. She walks me through the hallways after we went to the office and I got the papers I needed. The papers told me what classes I needed to go to and what my locker number was.

“Here it is.” Maria says once we reached my locker. She then started to laugh.

“What’s funny?” I ask.

“You’re right next to Clyde’s locker.” Maria says.

“Why is that funny?” I ask.

“It’s not. I just think—oh never mind.” Maria says and I look away. I said something stupid again, didn’t I? “Can I see your schedule?” I hand her my class schedule once she asks. I really hope she is in my classes. I don’t have any other friends, so if she isn’t in them I’ll be alone.

_1 st\- FREE  
2nd-ART  
3rd-GYM  
4th-SCIENCE  
-LUNCH-  
5th-HISTORY  
6th-MATH  
7th-ENGLISH_

“Looks like we have Math and English together.” She says and I look. Those were my last two classes. We only had two classes together?

“That’s only two classes.” I point out.

“Yeah. But we’ll also see each other at lunch and we can walk here together. We both also have free periods first.” She tells me. I guess, but wouldn’t she rather be with her friends than me? Probably. She won’t tell me, but I know. “But Clyde’s in all your classes. Except English. And Jessie will be with you in Science, English and Art.” She tells me. Why did that matter? It’s not like they are my friends. They are _her_ friends. They probably won’t like me.

Maria shows me around the rest of the school. We had time as we both had a free period first. The place looked nice. Then the bell rang—which startled me a bit—and Maria looked at me sadly. She had to go and I had to go.

“I have to get to Science, but your class is right there.” Maria says and I nod. “See you later!” She says before going the other way. I wait a few minutes before going into the classroom. Do I just sit anywhere? I guess.

This is going to be a long day.

* * *

The Art teacher Mrs. Taylor told me what they had been studying and told me that they were presenting their projects for this week. She said I could just watch or do other work until we start the new chapter next week.

I guess that’s good.

Clyde says I’m lucky. I don’t really know why. I guess it’s because I don’t have to work and just kind of have another free period until next week.

I don’t feel lucky, though. I feel _weird_.

After class I get my stuff and have to try and find my next class; Gym. I wonder if I’ll like that. But then Clyde starts walking along side me.

“Do you have a skateboard?” Clyde asks me and I shake my head. What was that?

“What’s that?” I ask.

“Are you serious?” Clyde asks and I nod. I guess I should know what that is. “Well anyways, I’ll have to teach you sometime.” He then says. Really? I guess that could be okay. I am interested in what a skateboard is.

“I’m going to skate park this weekend with Jessie and Maria. You should come too.” Clyde tells me. Was he inviting me somewhere? “Her dad _thinks_ he’s a great skateboarder. It’s going to be brilliant!” He says and I grin. I want to say ‘yes’ but I have to make sure it’s alright with Sarah Jane first. “So you want to come?”

“I do.” I say.

“So I’ll see you there. Great!”

“I don’t know. I have to ask Sarah Jane.” I say.

“Your mum?” He asks me and I nod. She lets me call her ‘mum’ so I guess she is. I really like her and hope she does keep me. But there is always the chance she will change her mind. So I can’t really be sure.

“Why don’t you call her ‘mum’?” Clyde asks me.

“I do.”

“You just called her ‘Sarah Jane’.” He points out. Is it wrong to call her both? One is her name, so aren’t they both right? This is complicated. Or am I just making it complicated? “I guess it’s not really important.” Clyde says. “So Maria tells me she’s adopted you.”

“No.”

“What?” Clyde questions, looking at me weirdly. “Aren’t you living with her?”

“Yeah. She’s my foster-mum.” I explain. She said she was going to adopt me. Apparently it was too soon to start doing that yet, so until then, I was just her foster kid. That foster kid she could get rid of any time she wanted. I really hope it doesn’t happen but it can.

“Sorry, it’s none of my business.” Clyde says. “My mum says I get really nosey.”

“It’s alright.” I say. And he asked. I didn’t have to tell him if I didn’t really want him to know about it.

“So did Maria ever tell you about how I found out?” Clyde asks.

“Found out about what?” I ask. I haven’t really talked to her. I’ve kind of just stayed inside and been with Sarah Jane for the most part. I talked to her sometimes but she mostly just asked me how I was settling in and if I was okay.

“The aliens.” Clyde whispers. He knew about that? Maria told him? I thought we weren’t supposed to tell anyone about that. “Don’t worry. Sarah Jane knows I know. I kind of helped them a month back when the school was being run by Slitheen.” He says. “Long story, I’ll tell you about it later.”

I guess I’ll ask Sarah Jane about that later after school when I see her.

“Come on, we better hurry up. Coach hates it when you’re late.” Clyde tells me as he starts walking faster; I guess that was a sort of warning.

We got there a little bit after the bell rang. I hope he doesn’t get mad as it’s my first day. I hope Clyde doesn’t get in trouble because of me. I don’t want him to hate me. I hope the coach doesn’t hate me. I go up to the couch and he hands me a uniform. I guess we wear this for this class.

“Go change.” The coach tells me.

“What?”

“Go. Change.” He says slowly and then points over to the locker room. I watch as other boys come out without shirts and then put on the yellow shirt that coach provided me with. Do they all change there? So I have to take my clothes off in front of them? No, then they will see my scars. I don’t want people looking at me.

“Did you hear me?” Coach says a little bit louder this time. I nod at his question. “Well what are you standing here for?”

“Do they all change in there?” I ask and he nods.

“Yeah. That’s kind of the point of the changing room.” He replies.

“I-I—“ I can’t even get the words out. I just don’t want to change in front of people. I don’t want them to see my scars.

“GET GOING!” He yells and I flinch away.

“HEY COACH!” I look to see Clyde coming over. He was all changed into his uniform which the yellow shirt with the school’s name and logo on it and some navy blue shorts.

“What are you doing here? I didn’t call for you Langer!” He says, loudly. I flinch away again.

“I’m just here to help Lukey here.” Clyde says putting his arms around my neck.

“Go back to your spot!” He yells at Clyde and then turns back to me. “YOU GO CHANGE! NOW!” He yells and I flinch away. I don’t like yelling. I don’t like it when people are mad. He’s angry at me. But he didn’t understand. _Please stop._

“Coach—“ Clyde starts to say.

“ARE YOU DEAF OR SOMETHING!? I SAID GO CHANGE!” He continues to yell and I start shaking. I remember my foster parents yelled at me all the time. He sounded a lot like George does when he would yell at me. I feel something wet go down my face; I’m crying. I want to stop, but I can’t.

I don’t like it when people yell at me.

“OH SERIOUSLY! YOU’RE GOING TO START CRYING! OH WHAT THE HELL—“ He yells and then I hear the sound of people laughing echo all over the room. They were laughing at me and he was yelling at me. I just want it to stop.

“COACH!” I hear Clyde yell. Why was he yelling?

“GET OUT OF HERE LANGER! AND TAKE CRY BOY WITH YOU! HE’S NO GOOD HERE!” He continues to yell and I jolt at feeling something touch me. I move in the direction I’m lead as the tears don’t stop. The laughing gets quieter and quieter until it stops completely. I look up and see a sign for the boy’s bathroom.

“You okay?” I look up at Clyde, but turn away. Shouldn’t he be laughing at me too? He then hands me a tissue and I wipe my tears away. I nodded at what he asks and sniffle.

“You sure?”

“I just don’t like it when people yell at me.” I say.

“Coach yells at everyone. You shouldn’t worry about it. He’s an asshole.” Clyde says and I look up at him. He called a teacher _that_? Was that okay? I guess as long as no other adults heard it.

“So why didn’t you want to change?” Clyde asks. “If you don’t mind me asking.”

“I don’t want them looking at me.” I tell him.

“Well there a toilet stalls in there. You can change in them.” Clyde says gesturing to the ones that were in here. I grin. At least they wouldn’t have to see me. I guess that’s good thing. Though I still don’t like the fact that coach yells. And from what it seems, he does it a lot.

Clyde cut through to the boy’s locker room quickly and changed back into his regular uniform. I guess since he was told to leave, he couldn’t go back to class. Me too, apparently. Was I in trouble already? It’s only my first day. Oh, I hope Sarah Jane doesn’t get mad at me.

“Come on.” Clyde says.

“Where?” I ask.

“The office. When you get sent out of class, that’s usually where you go.” Clyde tells me. “Don’t worry. We won’t be in trouble when we explain what happened.” I follow Clyde to the office and he tells him what happened and then she asks me the same question. I questioned the fact where she had to hear it from me as well. Clyde already said it all, but she made me tell her what happened from my point of view. Apparently she would have a talk with coach later. I hoped that was a good thing.

Clyde and I stayed there for the rest of the period. We just talked and we traded mobile numbers. It was actually okay. He seemed really nice. I guess I know why Maria is friends with him.

The bell rang and I walked with Clyde to our next class; Science.

“You must be Luke.” The man I assumed was the teacher, says as he walks up to me. I nodded and he held out his hand. I shook it. “Well, I’m Mr. Clark. And you let me know if you need any help with anything.” He tells me and I nod. He seemed nice.

The class went by. Clyde fell asleep ten minutes into it, but I didn’t notice until after the class was over. We started a new chapter in the textbook, so Mr. Clark talked and I wrote all the notes he had on the board. Though I didn’t need to as I remember everything he said, he told us to so I did. I didn’t want to get in trouble. And besides, Clyde might need them.

The bell rang and everyone ran out quickly. “Remember! Do questions 1-10 on page 148 for homework!” Mr. Clark says quickly as everyone leaves. “I will check your notebooks tomorrow!” I hear some people groan, but it didn’t seem like much work.

I shook Clyde awake.

“Glad you could join us today, Mr. Langer. I’m so glad my lessons are _soothing_ to the young mind.” Mr. Clark comments. I grin a bit; I think that was supposed to be funny.

Clyde and I walk out of class. “I have the notes if you need them.” I tell him.

“No, it’s fine.” Clyde says. I don’t know how he will do well on the test when Mr. Clark gives it but it wasn’t my place to ask. “Anyways. I’m going to go to my locker and I’ll meet you in the cafeteria.” I nodded and he left my side.

* * *

I got lunch from the canteen. It cost seven quid. So I would have to give change to Sarah Jane. Or do I? Did she just want me to use it all until it’s gone? Or give whatever is left back? I guess I’ll ask when I go home.

“Oh look it’s the cry baby!” I stop at hearing someone shout. I know they are talking about me. I then start to walk again, but then bump into someone.

“Sorry.” I say and he laughs.

“Hey! Cry baby!” I turn around. I guess they’ll be calling me that now. _Good job, Luke! You got yourself a nickname!_ I scold myself. “What’s wrong? You don’t like it when people SHOUT!” The boy yells the last part which makes me flinch. He, along with the boy next to him laughs.

I guess I found two people that didn’t like me. The one who was wearing a grey hoodie was white with short dark brown hair. The other was wearing a leather jacket, had darker skin, and was wearing an earring in one ear. Weren’t those for girls?

“Do your parents fight at home a lot?” The white boy asks me.

“No.” I say. It was only me and Sarah Jane. She didn’t fight with anyone. Not even me. Which is really nice. My foster parents used to argue a lot. They would yell at each other and me. Mostly me.

“You know, I heard he’s a foster kid.” I hear the darker boy whisper.

“Oh, so you don’t have parents.” The other boy says. I look away. I know Sarah Jane said that she was going to adopt me and I do call her ‘mum’ but technically she wasn’t my mother. Technically I wasn’t her son either. So technically speaking, I don’t have any parents. “Oh so sad.” He says in a mocking tone. I start to back away, but trip and fall on the floor, losing my hold on my food tray in the process.

* * *

_It was my first day at the children’s home. Emily had brought me there last night after taking me from Sarah Jane’s home. I want to go back there and see her, but Emily says, I can’t. She says I have to stay here. I slept in the bed they provided. Then once I woke up, I was told to go eat breakfast._

_I don’t want to get yelled at so, I do what I’m told._

_They gave me a plate with eggs and toast. I just move the food around on my plate. I don’t like to eat. I’ll be fat and then no one will want me. That’s what George told me. So I can’t eat. But I can’t really eat either way because chewing on the one side of my mouth hurts._

_I throw the food away when no one’s looking._

_I go sit outside by a tree. It’s quiet—for the most part._

_I see other kids pass me by. They stare me. Some of them laugh. Why are they laughing at me?_

_“What’s funny?” I ask and they just walk away._

_But then it starts to rain._

_I go inside and then run into a boy, falling on my back._

_“WATCH WHERE YOU’RE GOING!” He yells. I flinch. But I then get up and offer my hand. That’s the nice thing to do, especially since it was my fault. I help him up and then he pushes me back down. “STUPID!” He walks away and I just sit there._

_ I need to stop being a screw-up. _

_…_

_Lunchtime. I don’t go and eat. I just stay in my room mostly. The kids here don’t really like me so I don’t want to be around them. And I don’t want to eat. So I’ll just stay here until they force me to go._

_A little later I go to one of the adults. They said if I ever needed anything to go to them._

_“Hello Luke. Do you need something?” The lady asks me._

_“Yes.”_

_“What do you need, sweetie?” She asks._

_“The phone.” I tell her._

_“Is it an emergency?” She asks._

_“No.”_

_“What’s it for? Who are you calling?” She asks._

_“Sarah Jane.” I tell her. She told me I could call her any time. I was bored and I missed her. Maybe she missed me too._

_“Luke, I don’t think you should be bothering her.” The lady tells me._

_“She told me I could call her.” I tell her._

_“She probably has to work, so she probably won’t be home.”_

_“She works from home.” I tell her. She didn’t know anything about Sarah Jane. I did. Why couldn’t she just let me talk to her?_

_“How do you know?”_

_“She told me.” I say. “Can I have the phone?”_

_“Not right now.” She says. I look and see no one is using the phone. If no one is using the phone, why can’t I?_

_“Why not?” I ask._

_“Because I said so!” She shouts and frown. I back away. I hated it when people yelled at me. I went back to my room and cried. Sarah Jane was the only person that was nice to me. She was my only friend. She said I could call her anytime. Everyone here—they weren’t nice to me. They yelled at me and they took me away from her._

_I wish they would have let me stay with her. No one here likes me._

_ Everyone hates me. _

_…_

_Dinnertime._

_They made me go. I didn’t want to as I couldn’t really eat. But I don’t want them to yell at me. So I get a tray of food. I grin a bit at seeing they have a small cup of Jell-O. I remember Sarah Jane gave me some before Emily brought me here. It was good and really soft; that was something I could eat._

_Maybe one bite wouldn’t hurt._

_I was looking for a place to sit when I bump into someone. I look and see my food is all over their clothes. I look at their face and it was the boy who I bumped into earlier. I frown. He looked mad._

_“You again!?”_

_“Sorry—“_

_“Look what you did!” He says and pushes me. He then punches me—he punches me quite a few times before someone pulled him off me. Now my stomach hurts. Ow._

_No one helped me up. I just laid there, watching as they took the boy, Felix, out of the dinner room. I eventually get up and go back to my room. I can’t get more food and mine is on the floor. So no dinner for me._

_I lay on my bed and cry._

_Everyone hates me. Everyone hurts me._

_ I hate it here. _

* * *

I hear a scream, which snapped me out of my thoughts.

“WHAT THE HELL!” I look up to see who was yelling. It was a girl who had long brown hair and a ton of makeup. A lot more than Sarah Jane wore. It looked weird. “YOU STUPID—! Archie, look what he did to my shoes!” She exclaimed as she went over to the boy who had pointed out I had no parents. I guess his name was Archie.

He frowns and then looks at me—he didn’t look at happy.

“Don’t worry Becca, I’ll take care of him.” He says and I frown. That didn’t sound good. “Look what you did to my girlfriend!” He yells and I flinch away.

“I-I’m sorry.” I stutter.

“Not good enough!” He says as he then pours juice over my head. It was cold and it didn’t feel good in my eyes either. He then throws me back on the floor. I then feel his shoe collide with my back. “Awe, are you gonna cry?” He mocks as I feel tears in my eyes.

I wanted to. I really wanted to. Especially after I hear people around me start to laugh.

“You gonna run home and cry to mummy and daddy?” The girl, Becca questions.

“Oh Bec, don’t be cruel.” Archie says with a smirk. “He doesn’t have those.”

I feel the tears in my eyes and it’s getting harder to fight them off.

“…and besides, who would want him?” I hear him say and the laughing gets louder. That’s what George and Silvia told me. They always said no one would want me. Sarah Jane says she does, but she could always change her mind.

“LUKE!” I look over and see Maria running towards me.

“Awe Maria has to look after the cry baby.” Archie mocked as I started to cry. I couldn’t hold back the tears any longer.

“Shut up, Archie!” I hear her friend, Jessie, yell.

“You alright, mate?” I look up and hear Clyde ask.

“Seriously Clyde? You’re friends with him? I thought you were cool.” Archie says. I look away. Now no one was going to like Clyde because of me. Now he’s gonna hate me.

“And I thought you weren’t an asshole, but I guess we were both wrong about something.” Clyde replies. Was he serious? “Come on, Luke.” Clyde helps me to my feet and he, along with Maria and Jessie, lead me out of the cafeteria. He then takes me to the bathroom where he gets a towel to dry me off.

“It’s alright, Luke.” I hear Maria say as she rubs my back. I couldn’t stop crying. I wanted to stop as I knew it was stupid, but I can’t. _I hate it here! I hate it here!_ The people here were a lot like the people in the children’s home. And some of the adults were like my foster parents in some ways. I hate it here. Why do I have to go to school? It sucks. I hate it here.

“Do you want me to call Sarah Jane?” Maria asks and I nodded. I want to go home. I don’t want to be here.

_I hate it here. I want to go home. I want Sarah Jane. I want my mum._

* * *

Sarah Jane’s POV

I was just getting home after dealing with a Weevil that got loose. And the only thing I could think during which was _Bloody Torchwood._ But anyways, it was taken care of. I went back home and up to the attic, to make sure there were no more loose aliens. Mr. Smith found nothing.

I glance at the clock.

A couple more hours until Luke will be home.

_What to do?_

Before I can think of anything, I hear my mobile ring. I take it out of my pocket and see Maria’s name flash on the screen.

“Maria?” I answer. I knew she would be at school with Luke, so this could only be two things: Either there was a problem that involved an alien, or there was a problem that involved Luke; I was silently hoping it was an alien.

“Sarah Jane. You should come get Luke.” Maria says and I feel my heart fall out of my chest. Something happened to Luke?

“What happened?” I asked, scared. I was always think the worse. I send him off to school one day and something happens. _Oh please, let him be okay._

“I’ll explain when you get here, but you should come. He’s asking for you.” Maria says and then I hear something muffled in the background. It sounded like _‘mum’._ That had to be Luke. Oh, he sounded _broken_.

“I’m on my way.” I say and hang up the phone before quickly getting into the car. I pull out the driveway in a hurry and rush over to the school. I park out front and quickly approach the front entrance when I see Maria come outside towards me.

“What happened?!” I exclaim. I was scared something really bad happened. What if he was hurt? I was scared Luke was really hurt. “And where’s Luke?”

“He’s in the bathroom with Clyde and Jessie.” Maria tells me. “I don’t know how it happened, but he got into it with some boy—Archie. He said somethings and then it got physical. I’m sorry, I wasn’t there. Clyde, Jessie, I—we didn’t get there until after it was happening. We got him to stop but—“

“Is he hurt? Is he _really_ hurt?” I ask. I didn’t sound like it would be too serious, but there could stuff they aren’t telling me about.

“No—Archie may have given him a couple bruises but—I don’t think it’s anything too serious.” Maria says and I put my hand on her shoulder at seeing the guilt present on her.

“Don’t blame yourself Maria.” I say as she brings me to the bathrooms. I watch as Clyde and that girl, whom must be Jessie, lead Luke outside of the bathroom. He had a towel on him on the back of his neck. He looked at me and ran to me. Once he reached me, he wrapped his arms around me. I stroke his hair which was damp.

I look up at the three kids and mouth a ‘thank you’; at least Luke had some friends that would try to look out for him when I wasn’t around.

“Come on. Let’s go home.” I say as I rub his back. I take Luke to the car and drive home. He doesn’t say a word the entire car ride—but then again it was short. No more than a couple minutes. Then when we get home and before I can tell him to go change, he quickly runs inside. I sigh.

This was not a good day for him.

I locked the car before coming inside. I gave him a couple minutes, just in case he was changing, before going upstairs and to his room. I knock on his door.

“Luke?” I call, putting my ear against the door. I look to my left and see the bathroom door was open so I knew he had to be in here. I knock on his bedroom door again. “Luke? Can I come in?” I call again, but still nothing. Maybe I should just go in.

“Luke?” I say as I quietly open the door and walk in his room. I see his white shirt was on the floor in a ball. Okay, so at least he changed that. I look over and see Luke on the bed. He was curled up onto his side. I could hear him whimpering. I sit on the bed next to him and rub his back.

“Do you want to talk about it?” I ask and Luke shakes his head. Okay, maybe I should stop asking as it seemed he was never going to tell me. This wasn’t the same thing as his nightmares. He had to talk to me about this so I could get this to stop.

“Luke, I need you to tell me what happened.” I tell him, but Luke shakes his head. “Tell me what happened.”

“No.” I hear Luke say, his voice breaking.

“Luke—“

“No.”

“Luke, I can’t help if you don’t talk to me.” I say.

“You can’t do anything.” Luke replies.

“Well I certainly can’t if you don’t tell me what happened.” I say and he looks at me. His eyes were red and wet. Tears were still continuing to fall. “Please. Tell me.” I beg. I couldn’t just sit here. I had to do something about this. Luke was so upset and I felt helpless; I needed him to tell me.

“Coach yelled at me because I didn’t want to get changed.” Luke says.

“Why didn’t you want to get changed?” I ask.

“They would see my scars. I don’t want them looking at me.” Luke says. “And at lunch—he called me names. I slipped and my lunch got on this girl—it was an accident—I-I s-s-swear! But they were angry so they started hurting me.” Luke started to cry. “I didn’t mean to—“

I pull Luke into my arms and held him as he cried.

“I’m here, Luke. It’s okay.” I say, while running my fingers though his hair. I felt Luke start to shake and I held him closer. “Shhh, I’m here. You’re okay now. No one can hurt you here.”

“Why did they hurt me?” Luke asks. _My heart breaks_. I don’t have the answers. I don’t understand why people hurt others. Especially someone as amazing as Luke.

How am I going on answer that?

“There are some people in the world that will hurt others. It’s not right, but it happens. But just remember, you are amazing. And you have people that care about you. I am here for you. I love you and I will protect you.” I say to the best of my ability.

“Mum?” I look down at Luke whom had stopped crying. He was just looking at me.

“Yes?”

“I love you.” Luke says and I smile.

“I love you too, Luke. So much.” I say and hug him tightly.

I hope that tomorrow will be a better day for him. He deserves a _good_ day.


	8. Thursday

**Disclaimer: I do not own Sarah Jane Adventures. I only own my OCs and my plot.**

* * *

Sarah Jane’s POV

After getting Luke to sleep, I decided to have Mr. Smith finish a report on the children disappearances. Thanks to Maria and Clyde figuring out it had something to do with this Laser Tag place Combat 3000, I was able to get Torchwood to go in there. They managed to find all the missing kids. I would have gone in there myself, but I didn’t exactly know what I was dealing with.

As I was about to go there to investigate, Luke called me saying he wanted to come home. It had been right before lunchtime and though he wouldn’t tell me the reason, I couldn’t just tell him no. He sounded upset and I knew Torchwood was more than capable of handling it.

It was for the best.

Though my work used to be the only thing I loved, now I had Luke, everything came second in comparison.

_Luke is my entire world._

It’s only been two months since he’s been living with me and things are really starting to come together; I just had to figure out how to get him to go to school for a full day.

After finishing the report, it was around 2 A.M. I tried to go to sleep, but I found that I couldn’t. Normally I would just go take a sleeping pill, but I wasn’t going to chance myself not waking up in the morning to make sure Luke got to school.

Maybe I will read for a little while.

I pick up the hard cover book that was sitting on my night stand and continued where I left off last. Anytime I couldn’t sleep, I’d read for a little while and then I’d be able to sleep. I was finishing chapter ten when I was startled by a crash of thunder.

“Oh.” I say and take a breath.

I should know better as it almost always rains here, but I guess I wasn’t expecting it. I remember when I was little and used to be terrified of thunder storms. I would wake up in the middle of the night and go into my Auntie’s room. She would bring me back to bed and tell me it’s just a storm. For an eight year old child, that wasn’t exactly the comfort I was looking for. But then again, Aunt Lavinia was never the comforting type. And eventually I got over it, and thunderstorms didn’t bother me.

There was flash of lightning and then another crash of thunder.

Then my lamp goes out.

Was that because of the storm or because I haven’t changed the bulbs in months?

Then I hear my bedroom door slide open slightly. Didn’t I have my door shut? Yeah, I usually shut my door at night.

“Mum?” I look up and see Luke poking his head in. I set my book down and look back over at Luke, whom had opened the door fully and walked inside my bedroom. I frowned. Luke was visibly shivering and he looked scared. I patted the bed which told him he could come up on the bed. He quickly did just as another crash of thunder hit and I heard a scared whine escape from him.

I wrap my arms around Luke and start to rub his back.

“It’s alright, Luke.” I try to sooth.

“I don’t like storms.” Luke whimpers.

“I know. But it’s alright.” I say calmly as I rub his back. “It’s just a storm. It can’t hurt you. And even if it could, I’d protect you.” I say, giving Luke a tight hug. I let go of him briefly so he can get under the covers with me. Once they are over him, I bring Luke back into my arms and I stroke his hair.

I felt Luke tense up as another crash of thunder hit.

“Shhh, it’s alright.” I say and then try to think of something. Maybe if I get him to talk about something else, he won’t be thinking about it. “So, you never told me what happened on your first day. Well, the good things. I’m sure there were some good things.”

Luke nods.

“Like what?” I ask.

“Clyde and I talked a lot.” Luke says and looks over at me. I wipe the tears that had fallen down Luke’s cheeks. I smile. I’m glad Luke and Clyde seemed to be getting along. Clyde was a lovely boy and I think he’ll be good for Luke.

“Clyde’s a nice boy.”

“He knows about aliens.” Luke says and I nod. If it wasn’t for him, I don’t know what would’ve happened when Maria and I found out there were Slitheen running the school. “Does he help you and Maria fight them? Like Maria and I did with the Bane?” Luke asks.

“Yeah. He did once. But I haven’t really had Maria and Clyde helping me lately.” I say. “Anyways, anything else good happen at school?”

“I like my Science Teacher.” Luke says. I smile. I knew Luke would probably be fond of his teachers.

“What about the others?” I ask.

“Mrs. Taylor is my Art Teacher and she seems okay. I don’t like the Gym Teacher. Clyde says he yells at a lot.” Luke says and I frown. I stroke his hair. I remember Luke telling about the Gym Teacher yelling at him on his first day because he didn’t want to change. But hopefully something like that wouldn’t happen again or I’d go down there and have a talk with him. Luke didn’t deserve to be yelled at, especially if he didn’t do anything wrong.

“What about the others?” I ask. I knew Luke had more than three teachers.

“I didn’t meet the others yet.” Luke says. Right. Luke always came home before lunchtime was over so he never got to go to the other classes yet. I hope he won’t have too much extra work to do. But I’m sure Luke will be fine.

Luke’s struggle isn’t the academic part of school. It’s the social part of it.

“Well I’m sure you’ll meet them tomorrow.” I say and Luke looks at me scared. I sigh, I hated that look. It always broke my heart. But Luke had to go to school. “And I’d like you to be there the whole day.” I say. I couldn’t keep picking Luke up half way through the day. He was going to have to do it eventually.

“I don’t want to go to school.” Luke says.

“I know, but it’ll be okay.” I say but Luke shakes his head in disagreement. “Luke, I know you’ve had a rough first few days. But it’ll get easier, I promise. You have your friends and there are teachers you like. And the sooner you go to school—the more you go, the easier it will get.”

“W-What if I’m hurt?” Luke asks.

“You weren’t the last time I picked you up.” I reply.

“But what if I am this time?” Luke asks. “What if someone hurts me?”

“Then yes, Luke. Of course I will come get you.” I say and stroke his hair. I didn’t want Luke to think I wouldn’t come, even if he was hurt, just because I wanted him to go to school for the full day. “But I would like you to try and get through the entire day. Meet the rest of your teachers and get the work you need. Okay?”

I just wanted Luke to try. That’s all I could ask of him.

Luke nods. “I’ll try.”

I smile and kiss Luke on the forehead.

“That’s all I ask.” I say and I notice that the storm has seemed to stop. “I think the storm’s over.” I say, hoping it made Luke feel better but he seemed sad. “You look tired. You should get some sleep. But I think you should stay here. You’ll help me sleep better.” I say and Luke looks up at with a small smile.

I knew that would make him feel better. And in all honesty, it made me feel better too.

I have Luke switch off the lights and he snuggles back into my arms. I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of doing this with him.

“Goodnight, Luke.” I say after kissing his forehead one more time. He doesn’t reply. Luke’s already asleep. I guess I should follow that.

* * *

Luke’s POV 

_I was doing the dishes at the sink after Silvia and George had finished dinner. I really hate it when they want something like spaghetti or anything that’s really messy. It takes forever to clean. But that’s what they wanted and if I don’t do what they want, I get punished._

_“Are you almost finished boy?” I flinch at George’s voice._

_“A-Almost.” I say as I start to scrub them faster._

_“Well hurry up! Because the garbage needs to go out.” He says and I nod. Then suddenly there was flash of light out the window. I glanced up and then there was this loud bang. Thunder. I was startled and ended up dropping a plate on the floor._

_It shattered into pieces._

_“What the hell!?” I hear George yell._

_“I-I’m s-sorry.” I stutter as he comes closer. He throw me on the floor, which collides my face with some of the broken shards. He forces me to pick them up with his hands. I cut them a bit, but eventually I get them all._

_Another crash of thunder._

_I let out a small scream._

_“What the hell—“ He trails before dragging me by the hair and throwing me outside. He then throws the trash bags outside as I fell onto the ground. “You can sleep outside with the garbage. If you’re going to behave like trash.” He says and locks the door._

_I pull the trash out to the curb and curl up under the porch were it was somewhat dry. It was cold and the wind would blow the pouring rain onto me. Cold and wet. More flashes of lightning and more crashes of thunder. I shiver and start to cry._

_I hate storms._

…

“Luke.” I open my eyes and see Sarah Jane stroking my hair. That felt good. I shut my eyes again. I was tired. Why did she wake me up? “Luke. You need to wake up.”

“I’m tired.” I say. I was up late. It was my fault, but I couldn’t help it. Why did I have to get up?

“You need to get ready for school.” She says and I glance at the clock. 7:15. I don’t want to get up. Certainly not for school. I don’t like school. But I did promise Sarah Jane I would try and make through a whole day like she wanted. I don’t want to make her mad, so I get up.

I go to my room and put my uniform on. I put my gym uniform in my backpack and sigh. Hopefully he won’t yell me today. Maybe he won’t as long as I do what he says.

After I am dressed, I go downstairs to where Sarah Jane is.

“I see you got your tie on.” Sarah Jane says and I nod.

“You showed me how.”

“And you remembered.”

“I remember everything.” I comment and she nods. I put my backpack on the back of my chair and I sit down at the table. Sarah Jane then puts a plate of toast right in front of me. She didn’t know how to cook, so I either had toast or cereal in the morning. It was fine. It was nice that she tried.

I look over and see Sarah Jane put a few pieces of fruit into the pockets of my backpack before handing ten quid for lunch.

“So I was thinking, why don’t you have your friends over on Saturday?” Sarah Jane offers. “They could spend the night.” I frown and shake my head. That wasn’t a good idea. I mean it sounded sort of nice, but I don’t think it’s a good idea.

“No. I don’t think so.” I say.

“Why not?” Sarah Jane asks.

“I just don’t think it’s a good idea.” I answer.

“Luke, if it’s the stuff in my attic you’re worried about, it’s fine. Maria and Clyde already know about it, and I can always keep it locked.” She says. They knew, but Jessie didn’t. But that wasn’t the reason why I don’t think it’s a good idea, but I’m not going to tell her. I don’t want to talk about it.

“No.”

“It’s okay, if you don’t want to. I just thought it’d be fun.” Sarah Jane says and I relax. I’m glad I don’t have to. “I thought it might give you something to look forward to.”

It did sound sort of fun.

“Well Clyde invited me to skate park with him on Saturday.” I say. “Can I go?” I ask. I had to make sure it was okay and it did seem fun. He said something about teaching me how to skateboard—whatever that is—and it sounds fun, I think.

“Yeah. You can go.” Sarah Jane says and I smile. Great, so I guess I had something good to tell Clyde when I see him. I then glance at the clock and frown. We had to go soon.

_I don’t want to go to school._

I look up when I feel Sarah Jane’s arm wrapped around me. I wrapped my arms around her. I felt a little better.

“I promise it will be okay. Eventually you’ll like school.” Sarah Jane says. But I doubted that. Not as long as Archie and his friend David kept picking on me. Unless they decided to stop, which isn’t likely, I won’t like school. And it’s not like I had friends besides Clyde, Maria, and Jessie. And it wasn’t right that I was intruding on their friendship.

But I won’t tell Sarah Jane that. She doesn’t need to be bothered about it. She does enough for me already.

I get into the car once Sarah Jane gets her keys and she drives me to school. She felt weird doing it because it was like a ten minute walk, but I liked her driving me. I felt safe with her. If I walked, I’d be by myself and that’d give Archie and David some extra time to find me.

“Luke, are you alright?” I hear Sarah Jane ask me and I nod. Though I don’t really mean it. I’m not fine. I had to go to school. “Luke, it’ll be okay. And before you know it, you’ll be coming home.” Sarah Jane says and I force a smile, to make her believe I was alright.

I jump at hearing the sound of someone knocking on glass. Sarah Jane and I look over and see Clyde knocking on my window. I look back as Sarah Jane chuckles.

“I guess you better be off then.” Sarah Jane says and I sigh, but nod.

“I don’t know why you brought me in so early. It’s not like I have first period.” I reply. I could have stayed home an extra hour, now that I think about it. Why didn’t I say that? _Because you know she doesn’t really want you._

“Well I think Clyde’s waiting for you.” Sarah Jane says. I don’t think he has free period first—or does he? Maybe. I knew Maria did, but I wasn’t seeing her anywhere. “I’ll pick you up after school, okay?” I nodded. I promised I would try and get through the whole day. So I would. I don’t want to make her mad.

I give her a hug before getting out the car. I watch sadly as she drives away.

“You didn’t come yesterday.” Clyde states and I nod.

“She let me stay home. I didn’t want to come.” I tell him. I didn’t want to come today either, but Sarah Jane said I had to.

“I was going to text you, but I realize I don’t have your number.” Clyde says. I just nod, but then when I look back at him, I see him looking at me. It was like he was waiting for something.

“What?” I ask.

“I think this is the part where you give me your number.” Clyde explains. Oh, he wanted my mobile phone number. I told him the numbers and he put it into his phone. He then told me his phone number and I nodded. “Are you going to get your phone out or write it down somewhere?”

“I’ll do it later.” I say. I didn’t need to text him now. He was right here and we had almost all the same classes.

“What if you forget it?”

“I won’t.” I say.

“Oh right, I forgot. You have the super brain.” Clyde says. “You’re a regular _Brainiac_ , aren’t you?” For some reason, I got this vibe he was trying to reference something I didn’t know.

“What?” I ask.

“Never mind.” Clyde says. “Anyways, I won’t be at lunch today. Coach got me lunch detention. Archie hits him in the back of the head with a ball and I get blamed for it. But anyways, you got Maria and Jessie.” I nod, though I didn’t really. They were friends. I wasn’t going to intrude. I didn’t want to.

“Where are they?” I ask.

“At Jessie’s house. She needed Maria’s help on a project or something. So it’s just you and me during free. So come on.” I follow beside Clyde into the upstairs hallway.

“Hold on, I’m gonna use the toilet. I’m busting.” Clyde says and I nod. I kind of just wanted to follow him in there as I didn’t feel safe out here by myself, but that would be weird. I didn’t want to seem weird. I already am enough of that.

Clyde goes into the bathroom and then I glance over. I blanch at the sight and quickly turn away. David and Archie are walking my way.

“Oh look who decided to show up today.” David says and I don’t look in their direction.

“We missed you yesterday, Lukey.” Archie says as he stands beside me, with David on the opposite side of me. If I tried to run or move, they would stop me. I had nowhere to go. I was stuck. I felt my hands starting to shake already. I was scared. What were they going to do to me?

“Oh Archie, I think we’re scaring him.” David taunts and they both laugh.

“Oh I think he might cry.” Archie says and they laugh again. I shut my eyes. Why could they go away? I want them to go away. I wish Clyde was out of the bathroom. Archie then grabs me by my hair and holds me against the lockers. I whine, but I don’t let any tears fall. I can’t. Crying always makes everything worse.

“To think we haven’t even touched you yet.” Archie laughs. I then feel him go through my pockets. I try to move but David slams me back. My head hits the lock part. That hurt. It hurt more than the rest of my body being slammed against the locker.

I look and see Archie holding up the lunch money Sarah Jane gave me.

“Thanks for the lunch money, Lukey.” Archie says. I glance up at David whom was still holding me against the lockers. I whine as I feel Archie’s fist collide with my stomach. David lets go of me and clutch my stomach. “I can’t wait to see you at lunch.” Archie comments as he and David walk away. _That really hurt._ More than when he kicked my back days ago.

I hear the toilet flush. I stand up normally and ignore the pain in my gut. I make sure my eyes had no tears in it; I had to look like I was fine.

Clyde walks out.

“Are you okay? I thought I heard someone else out here.” Clyde states. Oh no. Luke, you need to think of something! Fast!

“No.” I say.

“Are you sure—“ Clyde tries, but I cut him off and changed the subject.

“Yeah. Anyways, Mum says I can go to the skate park on Saturday.” I tell him. Hopefully that distracts him and makes him forget about what he thinks might have happened.

“Oh cool! I can now officially make you my padawan.” Clyde says as he puts an arm around me. I laugh, though I had no idea what that meant. But I guess maybe he would teach me what that meant.

* * *

The rest of the day went by decently. Mostly because I wasn’t without Clyde. He always with me and whenever I’d pass Archie, David, or Becca, they’d ignore me—well, Becca would glare at me. I guess she was still angry about me messing up her clothes. But I knew it was only because Clyde was next to me. They wouldn’t touch me when Clyde was around. I knew once I was alone, they’d come for me.

Gym Class went by decently. I got changed in one of the stalls so the coach didn’t yell at me—well in particular. He yelled the entire class, but that I guess is how he talks. He just gave us free time, so Clyde and I went and shot some basketballs. That was actually fun.

Then it was Science Class. I liked Science Class. Mr. Clark is nice. He asked me how I was doing because I wasn’t in yesterday. I lied and told him I was fine. For the whole class, he did a lecture and once again, Clyde fell asleep.

He woke up when class was over.

“Feeling better Mr. Langer?” Mr. Clark asks once he wakes up.

“Much better sir.” Clyde remarks. “I’ll see you later Luke.” Clyde says and I sigh. I was supposed to get up and go lunch now. I didn’t want to. I knew Archie would be waiting for me.

_I can’t wait to see you at lunch._

Of course, he knew Clyde wouldn’t be there. I guess he saw that as there was no one to protect me. I didn’t want to go. And it’s not like I could get any lunch since they took my money. I wish I could just stay here.

“You alright, Luke?” I look at Mr. Clark.

“Yeah. I’m fine.” I say.

“Shouldn’t you be rushing off to the cafeteria with the rest of your mates?” Mr. Clark asks.

“Clyde’s got detention.” I say. Sure, Maria and Jessie were there, but I could tell they were like best friends or something like that. I didn’t want to be a third wheel or whatever they call it. And I didn’t want to face Archie. He was going to hurt me. And sure, then I could call Sarah Jane to take me home, but I knew she didn’t really want me to do that. I didn’t want her to be mad at me. And I don’t like being hurt. I don’t want them to hurt me. But there’s nothing I could do to stop them.

“Oh I see.” Mr. Clark says and then looks out the door. I blanch at seeing Archie. Was he waiting for me? “Hey! You two! Get to the cafeteria!” He shouts at them.

“We’re waiting for _our friend_ , Luke, sir.” David says and I flinch. They were waiting for me. I didn’t want to leave. I was safe here. But I guess I had to go, didn’t I?

“You better be off! Besides Luke has some work to make up for me.” Mr. Clark says. I look at him and he winks at me. I grin; was he letting me stay here? I watch as both Archie and David left, not looking very happy.

“Those two are nothing but trouble.” Mr. Clark adds as he sits down on his chair.

“Thanks.” I say. I guess he could tell that they were waiting for me and why they were wouldn’t have benefited me.

“Well you did miss notes yesterday, so I guess this would be a good time to get those down.” Mr. Clark says and I nod. And since I wasn’t there, I probably should at least read them. I took out my notebook and he pulled up the slides for me to copy. I copied them down into my notebook.

“You can eat while you do that.” Mr. Clark says as he then takes out a chip and eats it. I take the apple out of my backpack and take a bite. At least I still had that. They didn’t check my backpack. Or else I’d have nothing.

“Is that all you have Luke?” Mr. Clark asks me and I nod.

“I forgot my lunch money.” I lie. I wasn’t going to tell him it got stolen. I was scared of what they would do if I told on them. What if they hurt me more?

“Well you can have these if you want.” Mr. Clark says and hands me a bag of carrots. They were good. I liked carrots. “…and here. Have a piece.” He holds a bag of candy in front of me. I take a piece and put it down beside my apple.

“Thanks.” I say. I like Mr. Clark. He’s really nice and he’s funny, especially after Clyde wakes up from his lectures. I haven’t met the other teachers yet, but I know he’ll probably still be my favorite.

“So how are you liking your classes?” Mr. Clark asks me as he switches to the next slide.

“So far they are okay. I haven’t gotten passed this class yet.” I tell him honestly.

“Why is that?”

“I went home early on Monday and Tuesday.” I tell him. “I-I w-wasn’t feeling too well.” I guess that was sort of true. I didn’t feel good. Archie and David had been picking on me so it hurt. I didn’t feel good after what they did to me both days.

“Yesterday as well?” Mr. Clark questions and I nod. “Luke, are you sure you’re doing okay?”

“Yeah. I’m okay.” I say. I wasn’t, but I didn’t want to tell him the truth. He couldn’t help me. It would just be worse for me.

“Are those boys giving you any trouble at all? You can tell me or any of your teachers, you know? We’re not just here to teach.” Mr. Clark says.

I shake my head.

“No. Not really.” I say. “I’m just getting used to this. That’s all. I’ve never been to school before.” I knew he’d believe that as there had been a news article about the _Bubbleshock_ Factory. And Mr. Smith made it so I was the child of the owner and that they experimented on me or something. I guess that made sense to the public eye. And I guess it was true in a sense. Mrs. Wormwood did call me an experiment.

“Okay. But I’m here to talk if you ever want to.” Mr. Clark says. I grin and nod. He was nice though. At least he was nice. I finished copying the notes and just finished the small bits of food I had. Then the bell rang and I quickly went to my next class. Which happened to be right across the hallway.

History was after lunch. I apparently had missed a few homework assignments, but Mrs. Troyer said I could make those up tonight for full credit. It seemed easy enough like Science Class. Read the textbook and answer the questions. This was easier as it was write down the Vocabulary words and definitions.

“You can sit next to Clyde.” She says, pointing to a desk that was in the second row, on the far right. I grin. There’s where I was going to sit anyways—well I was going to sit next to Clyde if I had the choice. Clyde came in just as the late bell rang.

“Jessie and Maria just asked me where you were during lunch. What happened? Was it Archie?” Clyde asks me and I shook my head.

“I had to make up some notes in Science. I was in there.” I say.

“Okay well Jessie and Maria thought they did something. Jessie threw Archie against a wall. According to Maria, it was hilarious. She sent me a video.” Clyde tells me. I grin a bit. That sounded funny and I guess they’d know how I felt earlier.

“No talking.” I look up at Mr. Troyer looking in our direction.

“I’ll show you later.” Clyde whispers.

Maybe today isn’t going to be as bad as I thought it was going to be.

* * *

Sarah Jane’s POV

After coming home from following a lead on the story, I decided to see if I could manage to cook something. I needed to be able to cook. But once again, I started a fire. I sigh, I guess Luke and I were getting take out again. No. I’ll take Luke out. He needs something fun. I knew he didn’t want to go to school today. I almost wanted to tell him he could stay home again, but I knew he would have to go back some time. I really hope he has a better day. But if not, maybe a dinner out or doing whatever he wanted would maybe make the day end on a good note.

I decided to some laundry. I took Luke’s clothes from his room and brought them down to the laundry room. I put them in the washer. But then I noticed the dryer had something in it.

I opened it and pulled out— _bed sheets_? I smelled them and they were clean. I pulled them out and then I found a pair of underwear and a pair of pajama pants. Those were Luke’s. Were these bed sheets Luke’s as well?

I took the sheets upstairs with me and pulled Luke’s comforter back. Yep. These were his sheets. Though, I knew they had to be. These weren’t mine and it wasn’t like there was anyone else living here. Unless Maria decided to use my washing machine, but that was unlikely. Not without asking first, of course.

I put the sheets back onto Luke’s bed so they will be ready for him when he gets home.

I then put the clothes he had in the dryer in his room, folded. But the thing was, it was only one pair of underwear and one pair of pants. That was it.

I mean, I think it’s lovely for Luke doing laundry. But I don’t think he was doing it because he wanted to. If he did, he would have had more clothes in the dryer.

I had an idea of what was going on.

But I wonder why he didn’t tell me.

Was he afraid of what I might say? Was he embarrassed? I could understand that, but I hope he isn’t afraid to tell me things. Accidents happen. I’m actually surprised it hasn’t happened more than once honestly.

I guess I’ll have to have a talk with him about it.

I look at the clock. Oh, it’s time to go pick him up. I take out my mobile to make sure I just didn’t miss one of his calls. No calls. Not from Luke, Clyde, or Maria. I sigh in relief. I guess that meant he got through the entire day.

I just hope it was because it was a good day. Not just because I asked him to get through the day.

* * *

I drive to the school and wait out front. The kids start pouring out, but I stay in the car. Eventually I see Luke walking out with Clyde, his eyes glued to his phone. They were laughing at something. I smile. It was nice to see Luke happy for a change.

I step out of the car at seeing Luke wave at me.

“I can’t believe we have a quiz on Friday.” Clyde complains.

“You should have taken notes.” Maria comments as she gets in between the boys. “Luke says you fall asleep during every class.”

“I was catching up on my beauty sleep.” Clyde replies and I laugh.

“Well you better get some more. It’s not working.” That girl, Jessie, comments which makes both Luke and Maria laugh.

“See you later, Luke.” Maria says as she walks away with Jessie.

“Yeah. See you tomorrow.” Clyde says. “I’ll send you that video.”

“Okay.” Luke replies as Clyde runs to catch up with the girls. Luke then walks over and gives me a hug. It seemed to me that Luke had a nice day.

“Hi mum.” Luke says. I guess he didn’t care about me hugging him in public.

“Did you have a good day?” I ask as we get into the car.

“Yeah.” Luke says. He seemed to really mean it. And I would definitely believe it, based on what I just saw with Clyde and the girls.

“I told you things would get better.” I say and give him a kiss on the cheek before I turn the car around and drive home. Luke goes on his mobile for the short car ride back home which was good in a way. It gave me a few moments to prepare for what I was say regarding his bed sheets. I hope I don’t upset him when I ask.

We go inside and he goes upstairs to his room. I give him a moment before I go up. By the time I got to his room and knocked, Luke had changed his shirt.

“Luke, can we talk?” I ask and he nods. He sits down on the edge of his bed and I sit next to him. I think quickly of the best way to come out with it. “I’m going to ask you something and you’ll be honest with me right?” I ask. I had to make sure Luke wouldn’t try and deny what I already know.

Luke nods at that.

“Did you wet the bed last night?” I ask and Luke looks away from me.

“Yes.” Luke says after glancing behind him at the sheets that were put on his bed.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I ask. I just wanted to know. Luke probably was up because the storm—or maybe he was up because he thought he needed to take care of the sheets. And then as he was going back to bed, the storm startled him.

“I don’t know.” Luke answers. But I knew that was a lie. I’m sure he had a bunch of reasons for not telling me. “I thought you’d be mad.”

“Luke, I couldn’t be mad at you.” I rub his back and he looks at me with this look of embarrassment clearly on his face. “And accidents happen. It’s okay.” Luke grins but it quickly faded. Then a thought came to mind. I don’t think this is the first time he’s wet the bed. Luke knew what to do with his sheets and clothes.

“Luke, did you wet the bed when you were with your foster parents?” I ask and he nods. “What happened?” I ask and Luke starts to squirm. Eventually he just shrugs. “Luke. Tell me.”

I needed to know what happened.

Luke’s POV

_I woke up after having a nightmare. Though I realize they aren’t much different from what I’m living. I sleep in a cellar on an old mattress. I don’t get any food and both Silvia and George find any reason they can to beat me._

_I miss Sarah Jane._

_I put my hand down and I’m wet._

_Oh no, not again._

_I remember this happened once when I was at the children’s home. I could tell the lady was annoyed at me and then somehow all the other kids found out and laughed at me._

_I haven’t done it here yet. This is the first time._

_Should I tell them?_

_I don’t think they’ll be happy._

_Well I can’t exactly sit in soiled pants and sheets, right?_

_But what if they beat me?_

_“You forgot to take the—“ Silvia comes into the cellar. I could tell by her expression that she could smell it. “Oh shit—GEORGE!”_

_No! Why did she have to call him?!_

_George comes in and I knew by his expression that he could smell it too._

_“Oh what the hell—?”_

_“I think he pissed himself—oh god it reeks!” Silvia says as she holds her nose. I looked away. I was scared. I knew he was probably going to beat me._

_He threw me on the ground and started to beat me. It didn’t last as long as I expected though. Only a few punches and kicks. Then he pulled me by my hair into the bathroom. He then came back and threw my bed sheets in the tub along with cleaning materials and a new pair of pants and underwear._

_“You scrub them. And then in the morning you’ll be cleaning every inch of his bathroom and that cellar.” George says. He makes a disgusted groan before slamming the door shut._

_I sigh._

_I knew they had a washer and dry. It would be easier. I knew how to do laundry. But I knew they wouldn’t want me soiling their washer and dryer with the bed sheets and clothes I had an accident on. So I wouldn’t even mention it._

_It might just make them angrier with me._

_I don’t want that._

_I change into the dry clothes before getting in the tub and starting to scrub the sheets and my clothes. I scrubbed for hours. I also let them soak so they wouldn’t reek any more. By the time I finished I could see light coming in from the window._

_I was tired._

_But I couldn’t sleep._

_They said I had to clean the bathroom and cellar. And they meant really clean. Which meant it had it be cleaner than they’ve ever seen it. It would probably take me all day._

_I look out the window and sigh._

_I didn’t mean to do it._

_But that doesn’t matter._

_It’s times like this when I really miss the children’s home._

* * *

“They beat me and made me spend the rest of the night in tub scrubbing my sheets. Then for the rest of the day, I had to clean the bathroom and cellar.” I tell her. I give her the short version. I didn’t really want to go through all the details.

I look up at Sarah Jane as she wraps her arms around me.

“You know I’d never do anything like that, right?” Sarah Jane asks and I nod. I knew she wouldn’t hit me. She hasn’t lied to me and she said she would never hit me. But that didn’t mean she wouldn’t be upset or mad at me. I don’t want her to be mad at me.

I was scared of that.

What if she decided she didn’t want me? Who would want someone like me? I’m thirteen and I wet the bed.

“I didn’t want you to be mad.” I tell her.

“I’m not mad.” Sarah Jane says.

“Promise?”

“Promise. I just wish you would have told me.” I nodded at that. She did say she wanted me to tell her things, but I didn’t think this categorized as being hurt. I didn’t think I had to tell her. But I guess she wanted me to talk to her about any sort of thing.

“It’s alright. I know how to do laundry.” I say.

“I guess that means you can help me sometime with that.” Sarah Jane says with a laugh and I nod. I wouldn’t mind. I used to have to do it by myself and whenever I messed up, they’d beat me. I knew Sarah Jane wouldn’t do that.

I just wish I hadn’t done it in the first place.

“Luke, it’s alright. It was an accident. It happens.” Sarah Jane says.

“I did it at the children’s home once. They all laughed at me.” I tell her. I don’t know why, but I just came out with it. Weird, I felt better talking about it. Maybe it was because I knew Sarah Jane wouldn’t judge me. It did feel easy to talk to her.

I felt her arms wrap tightly around me once more. Then she brought hands up to my head and she ran her fingers through my hair. I always found that comforting.

“Is that why you didn’t want to have your friends here overnight?” Sarah Jane asks me and I nod. What if it happened again? They would laugh at me. They would think—I don’t know. I like them and I don’t want them to know about that. They won’t want to be friends with me anymore. Who would?

“They’d laugh at me.” I say.

“You don’t know that.” Sarah Jane says. I shake my head. Why wouldn’t they laugh? “Now, we can figure this out.” I look at her reluctantly. What was there to figure out? I don’t even know why this happens. It doesn’t happen often. It’s just random.

“How?” I ask.

“Well did you go to the bathroom before bed?” Sarah Jane asks.

I shake my head.

“Did you have anything to drink before bed?”

I nodded. She made tea while we watched a film and that was around eight. Then I had a glass of water before I went to bed at ten.

“Were you stressed—were you worried about anything?”

I nodded.

“You said I had to go to school. I really didn’t want to go to school.” I admit. I was really scared. I still sort of am, but not as much as I was.

“Now be honest, but is this the first time this has happened since you started living here?”

I shake my head.

“It happened two other times.” I admit.

“Well I see there is a way to help with that.” Sarah Jane says hugging me tightly. I grin. I could see where she was going. I should go before bed. I shouldn’t drink anything too close to bedtime—or at least, I shouldn’t drink too much before bedtime. And I guess I could try not to stress myself out so much. Wait, how do I do that?

“What do I do about the stress?” I ask.

“If you’re worried about something, come and talk to me. Talking about things can help. It can maybe help you feel better and I can help you with whatever the problems may be. Then maybe this won’t happen. And if it does, that’s okay.” Sarah Jane says. I grin, maybe I could control this.

“Is it too late to say that I want to have my friends over?” I ask. It did actually sound fun. I was going to hang out with Clyde anyways, so maybe it would be fun. And if we could control this, maybe I won’t have to worry.

“Of course. How’s Saturday?” Sarah Jane suggests and I nod. That sounded good. “We can order pizza, rent a film to watch, and all that.”

“You sure you don’t want to cook?” I joke and Sarah Jane gives me a look before lightly tapping me. I laugh. Clyde was talking to me about jokes during Math. I think that was a joke.

“I think Clyde’s already rubbing off on you.” Sarah Jane comments. I guess that meant it was a joke.

“Is that good?” I ask.

“Oh yes, that’s good.” Sarah Jane confirms as she then wraps me into another hug. I was feeling a lot better now. “I love you Luke.”

“I love you too, mum.” I say. 


	9. Sleepover

**Disclaimer: I do not own Sarah Jane Adventures. I only own my OCs and the plot.**

* * *

Sarah Jane’s POV

In the morning, I went and checked on Luke as well as wake him up for school. I sit on the edge of my bed and rub his back. It seems like a nice way to wake him. I remember my aunt would just bang on my bedroom door. It wasn’t exactly the nicest way to get up in the morning.

“Mum.” I hear Luke mumble.

“Time to get up.” I say as he slowly opens his eyes. Luke looks up at me and turns onto his side. “Did you sleep okay?” I ask and Luke nods.

“No accidents.” He says. So far, so good.

“That’s good honey.” I say as I stroke his hair back. “So who are you inviting over for Saturday?”

“Clyde, Maria, and Jessie.” Luke says. Okay, that was a good number. I was fine with Luke having more if he wanted, but I don’t want like ten kids here. That would be a bit much. I had feeling it would be only those three, but I had to make sure. I’ll have to make sure the attic’s locked since Jessie will be coming round.

“Alright. Did you ask them yet?” I ask.

“I’ll do that at school.” Luke tells me. I knew he probably would, but I wasn’t sure if he had done it by text or not.

“Okay, well why don’t you get ready for school? I’ll make some toast?” I say and Luke nods. As he gets out of bed, I head downstairs. I go into the kitchen to put bread in the toaster and start the kettle. I turn around at hearing the doorbell ring. I answer the door and see Alan Jackson.

“Hi, sorry, I know it’s early.” Alan apologizes.

“No, it’s alright. Luke’s just getting ready for school.” I say glancing behind me and then back to him. “Do you need something?”

“Yeah, I know this is last minute, but I need to ask you for a favor.” Alan says and I nod. “Is it alright if Maria stays over here for the weekend? I was just called in to go to Cardiff for the weekend for work and my ex-wife is in Costa Rica so she can’t come and look after Maria while I’m gone.”

“Oh yes, that’s no problem.”

“Sorry it’s last minute.” Alan apologizes. “I hope I’m not putting you out.”

“No, it’s perfectly fine. Maria is lovely and I’m sure Luke won’t mind having her around.” I say. “And actually Luke was going to ask to have her stay the night on Saturday so it works out.” I add with a slight chuckle.

“Okay great, thanks. I’ll tell Maria.” Alan says. “Have a good morning.” He says as he crosses back over the road, back into house number 36. I close the door and turn around to see Luke standing on the stairs in his uniform.

“Who was that?” Luke asks.

“Maria’s father. He has to go away for work, so Maria will be staying the whole weekend.” I tell Luke and he grins a bit. I guess he didn’t really have a problem with that. I knew he was close friends with Maria and since she understood more of what he’s gone through, he wasn’t as scared of her seeing some of his behavior.

I get Luke his breakfast and then put a few snacks in his backpack. “Do you need more lunch money?” I ask as I go over to my purse to get some money.

“Can you just make me a lunch?” Luke asks.

“Is there something wrong with the cafeteria food? Do you not like it?” I ask because it’s been a few days. If he didn’t like the food, why didn’t Luke say anything?

“I’ve just never had a lunch from home before.” Luke says.

Luke’s never had a lunch before—from home at least. I mean, I can’t cook, but I’m sure I can find some stuff to give him.

“Sure, just let me see what I have.” I say as I go into the fridge. I had some stuff to make a sandwich, so I guess I can do that. I get turkey and salami on bread with butter. Then I had some tomatoes and pickles. I then put some pepper, salt, and oil on the top. I put that in a paper bag along with some crisps, two pieces of fruit, and a biscuit. I then get a can of pop from the fridge and put it in his bag. “There you are. If you like it, we can go shopping on Sunday, get some more food alright?”

Luke nods as he finishes his toast. He gets his jacket and then we see Maria walking over the road. “Hiya!” Maria says.

“Hello Maria. Would you like a lift?” I ask.

“It’s only a ten minute walk.” Maria says looking at Luke.

“I like being driven.” Luke says.

“You coming?” I ask Maria who nods and gets in the backseat while Luke gets in the front seat.

Luke’s POV

I glance back at Maria. I guess she was wondering why I didn’t sit in the back with her. I just like the front seat. I guess I should have sat back there but it’s too late now. Once we get to the school, Maria gets out first. I gave Sarah Jane a hug before getting out.

“Have a nice day.” She says before I close the door and she drives off.

I follow Maria into the building and soon we find Clyde and Jessie.

“Hey Lukey boy! My mum says I can spend the night at yours on Saturday.” Clyde says. Oh that’s right. I texted him last night before I went to sleep. So I just have to ask Jessie. “What about you two?” Clyde asks looking at the girls.

“My dad is working so I’m staying the whole weekend at his.” Maria says.

“I wasn’t aware of this sleepover.” Jessie says.

“Sorry I didn’t have your number.” I tell her. I hope she’s not mad that she’s the last to know or something. I heard some people can get mad about that or something?

“Well I’ll ask my mum tonight. I’ll give you my number.” Jessie then tells me the number. I’ll put it in my phone later when I get home. I was surprised she didn’t ask but I guess Clyde or Maria might have told her that I have a really good memory or something.

The bell rings.

“We all have a free. Let’s go sit by the lockers. The teachers don’t care.” Clyde says and the three of us follow him upstairs. He goes to his locker and gets out a notebook. We sit on the floor with our backs against the lockers.

“Did you finish the English homework?” Maria asks Jessie.

“Why are we talking about homework?” Clyde questions and I laugh a bit.

“My dad will ground me if he finds out I didn’t do it.” Maria replies with a laugh.

“We should be talking about Saturday.” Clyde says. “So we meet at the skate park and go to Luke’s after that?”

“Luke and I can meet you there. Dad’s leaving tonight, so I’ll already be at Luke’s.” Maria says. “But I think that works. Then we can all go back to Luke’s after.” Maria glances at all of us and I nodded. That sounded fine. Sarah Jane already knew about the skate park and it seemed to make the most sense.

“So what will we be doing at yours?” Clyde asks.

“I don’t know.” I say. I didn’t really think about that. “I’ve never done this before. And it was my mum’s idea.”

“You got any games? Board games? Video games?” Jessie asks and I shakes my head. “TV?” She then asks and I nod. Of course we had that. Well technically we could play video games on Mr. Smith but we couldn’t do that with Jessie coming over. “I’ve got games and a console. I’ll bring mine over. We can hook it up and play something.”

“Jessie loves to play games.” Maria comments.

“Shut up!” Jessie retaliates which makes Maria laugh.

“Let me ask you this Luke. Have you ever seen _Star Wars_?” Clyde asks me and I shake my head.

“What’s _Star Wars_?” I ask. I’ve never seen any kind of war.

“Oh my god. We have to watch the Star Wars movies. I cannot let my best mate go on without seeing the _Star Wars_ movies.” Clyde says which makes Maria laugh.

“And you make fun of my love of cats? You’re such a nerd.” Jessie teases.

“Cats are demons. _Star Wars_ is fun.” Clyde replies only to receive a smack at the back of the head from Jessie. Maria and I both laugh. “Jessie can bring the games, I’ll bring the films, and Luke can provide the food.”

“Pizza okay?” I ask. I had to make sure.

“Make sure it has lots of meat.” Clyde says and I grin. I liked meat.

“Oi!” Jessie says. “You said that on purpose.”

“Don’t mind her. Jessie’s a vegetarian. She only eats—salads.” Clyde says. In the middle of that he looked ready to throw up. I guess he didn’t like salads. I grin a bit. It was kind of funny. “But seriously loads of meat. I love meat.”

“I’ll tell my mum to get meat and cheese pizzas then.” I say.

“Can you get veggie too?” Jessie asks. Something about the way she was looking at me made me smile a bit. I don’t know why.

“Yeah.”

“See. He’s cool. Clyde you should be more like Luke.” Jessie says and I grin a bit. I thought if anything people would want me to be more like Clyde. But I guess it’s a compliment. I’ll take it. I won’t complain.

I look up at hearing a noise and flinch away quickly. Archie and David were coming this way.

“Hey Luke.” Archie says and I don’t look at them.

“What do you want?” Clyde asks bitterly.

“Nothing. Just want to ask Lukey a question.” Archie says. I look over at him reluctantly and see Archie turn to David. I didn’t like how they looked at each other.

“Do you like _Bubbleshock_?” David asks. I flinch at that name. I don’t ever want to think about that again. Though I’ve been through worse than being at that factory, but I remember my foster parents had a fridge stocked of that stuff. Even though Sarah Jane had Mr. Smith release a statement saying the drink was recalled, they kept a fridge full of it. Once they forced me to drink it. I didn’t want to but I was so thirty and I was so scared they would beat me again—I didn’t actually let it happen until the second time. I look back at David just as the orange drink is thrown on me. My eyes shut, but I knew some of the drink had probably gotten in my eyes.

“Get the hell out of here!” Jessie screams and then I hear squeaks. I guess that meant Archie and David had left. I wiped my eyes and blinked quickly. My eyes weren’t burning. I knew what it was like to get stuff like drink in my eyes and I guess this wasn’t the case. Thank god, because it isn’t fun.

“Oh Luke.” I look down at my feet. I then see Clyde’s stuff was wet.

This is all my fault.

“Come on, let’s get you cleaned up.” Maria says helping me up and taking me into the boys bathroom. Should she be in here? She grabs some towels and starts to help get me dry.

“Brings back memories, doesn’t it?” Maria questions and I grin. I knew she was talking about the factory when we hid in the girls toilets.

“Too bad we’re not in the ladies.” I say and that makes Maria laugh. “I’ll be okay. None got in my eyes.” I assure her. I just felt wet and sticky. They didn’t actually hurt me so I guess that’s a good thing—right? Then again, I think they wanted to. I guess I was just lucky and closed my eyes quick enough so it didn’t get in my eyes.

Clyde comes in and brings me a new shirt and tie. I go into the stall and change before going back out with them.

“You alright mate?” Clyde asks and I nod. “I’m going to kill those two.”

“Not if I don’t do it first.” Jessie interjects.

“No. It’s okay. I’m fine.” I say. I didn’t want them doing anything. They would probably just make it worse.

“Have they done anything else to you?” Maria asks and I shake my head.

“No.” I lie. But I didn’t want them to do anything. It wouldn’t do anything and they would probably be worse to me for telling. I couldn’t tell them. They couldn’t do anything.

“You’d tell us if anything was wrong right?” Clyde asks and I nod.

I know I shouldn’t lie. But I have no other choice. Look what being my friend is doing to them. Clyde got his stuff ruined. It’d just be better if I don’t hang around them too much around here.

* * *

The next few classes went by okay. Well, I didn’t really like Gym because Coach made us run laps the whole time. But Clyde jogged with me the entire time, so it wasn’t exactly horrible. I had a feeling he was mostly there to make sure Archie didn’t do anything. Archie kept his distance since Clyde was close by; which I didn’t mind. Then we went to Science Class. We had a quiz. I finished really quickly. It was so easy.

“I’ll meet you at the cafeteria.” Clyde whispers before he leaves class as the bell rings. He apparently really had to use the toilet. I didn’t really want to go lunch in the cafeteria.

“Luke. You can eat in here again if you’d like.” Mr. Clarke tells me. I felt relieved. I sit back down and take out my lunch. I was sort of hoping he would let me which is why I asked Sarah Jane to make me a lunch. I’m glad she didn’t mind.

“I see you have a lunch today.” Mr. Clarke says and I nod.

“I remembered this time.” I say as I take out sandwich and start to eat it. I grinned. It was good. At least she knew how to make a lunch. I’ll just forget about the canteen. Though I never really ever got to try the food, I liked this. And I liked that she made it for me. It was just nice.

“You got plans for the weekend?” Mr. Clarke asks as he sits down on his chair and takes a bite of his apple.

“I’m having friends over.” I say.

“From school?” Mr. Clarke asks. Should I tell him the truth? What if he makes me go to the canteen? Well, I guess I shouldn’t lie if I don’t have to.

“Yeah.”

“So why are you spending your lunchtime in here? Wouldn’t you rather spend it with your friends?” Mr. Clarke asks. Well, at least he hasn’t kicked me out yet.

“I like it in here.” I say. It was the truth. I do like it better in here. I was safe from Archie and David. Plus I liked Mr. Clarke.

“Am I your favorite teacher?” He asks and I nod. “You’re not just saying that because you feel you have to?”

“No. I like Science.” I say.

“I know. You’re the only who seems to care during my lectures. _And_ , you were the only one who got a perfect score on the quiz.” He says. Wait, how did he know that already? I guess he must have graded the first few he had.

“Luke?” I look over and see Clyde walk in. “What are you doing in here?” Clyde asks

“Eating lunch.” I say. Wasn’t that obvious?

“I see that. I told you I’d meet you in the cafeteria.” Clyde states. Yeah, I remember that part.

“I remember.”

“Why are you eating in here then? Jessie was going crazy on Archie thinking he shoved you into a locker or something.” Clyde says the last part with a laugh. “It was just as funny as last time.”

“I just wanted to eat in here.” I say. It wasn’t a lie.

“I think I’ll join you then.” Clyde says awkwardly. We didn’t say anything else to each other. It was quiet. We just ate our lunches in silence while Mr. Clarke ate his lunch while grading papers.

The bell rang and I got up. Clyde stopped me in the hall.

“Luke, what’s going on?” Clyde asks me.

“Nothing.”

“That’s a load of crap.” Clyde says.

“It’s not.” I insist.

“Luke, what’s Archie and David been doing? Why else would you eat lunch in the classroom with a teacher? Just tell me and I’ll do something. I’ll stop them.” Clyde says. But that was the thing. I didn’t want that. I don’t want him doing anything. He shouldn’t have to do anything. It wasn’t his problem.

“I didn’t ask for your help.” I snap. “I told you I’m fine.”

“Luke—“

“Just leave me alone.”

* * *

I didn’t speak to Clyde for the rest of the day. We didn’t even say goodbye to each other when school was over. I didn’t want him to help me and I guess I shouldn’t have snapped. That was stupid of me, but I don’t care. I don’t want him involved. I don’t want to make his life worse. That’s what will happen.

“How was school?” Sarah Jane asks me as we go home.

“Fine.” I say. It was okay, but it wasn’t the greatest.

“Luke. Do you want to go to the shops? So we can get some things for tomorrow?” Sarah Jane asks and I nod. That sounded nice.

We went to the store. We got some snacks. Then I also got a few board games so we could play those. Hopefully they weren’t terrible. I hope they aren’t bad or something. Then we went by the movies section of the store and I decided to get one of the _Star Wars_ movies. It was episode one and I’m not sure if Clyde will come now so I might as well get it just in case. Then when we got back Maria came over as her dad had just left for the weekend.

Maria and I were watching telly in my room before we went to bed.

“So what happened with Clyde?” Maria asks.

“Nothing.” I lie.

“Clyde said something was wrong.”

“There’s nothing wrong.”

“Does it have something to do with why you never come to lunch?” Maria asks and I sigh. I guess Maria wasn’t going take no for an answer. “Luke, you’re not intruding if that’s what you think. I mean, before you came along. I always used to talk about you to Jessie and Clyde. Before you came back that is. And then when you did, I still talked about you. So it’s like you always have been there in a way. And besides, Jessie, Clyde, and I like you.”

I smile a bit. This morning—before Archie and David came—it was really fun. Just hanging out and talking. It was fun. I liked that a lot.

“Will you come to lunch on Monday?” Maria asks.

“Okay.” I agree. I knew Mr. Clarke probably wouldn’t want me eating in his classroom anymore now that he knows I have friends. Also because of what happened when Clyde barged in. “We should get some sleep. I’m tired.” I say as I get into bed. Maria gets up and goes into the guest room.

Hopefully tomorrow will be fun.

* * *

Sarah Jane’s POV

“Mum.”

I open my eyes a crack.

“Mum.”

I turn to my side and rub my eyes. I see Luke standing at the side of the bed. I then glanced at the clock which read: 4:45. I then looked back to Luke and sat up.

“What’s wrong?” I ask but then it came to me a second later. “Did you have an accident?”

Luke nods slowly. He then looks down at the floor, ashamed at what he did. I sit on the edge of my bed and rub his shoulder. I didn’t want him to feel bad. It happens and it’s not a problem for me to clean his sheets.

“Sorry. I fell asleep and forgot to go before bed.”

“It’s okay, Luke. It happens.” I tell him. “Come on, let’s your sheets washed.” I say as I get out of bed and strip the sheets from his bed. “Give me your clothes as well.” I say as I carry them downstairs. I take them downstairs and put them in the wash.

“There. “ I say as I turn on the washing machine and put my arm around Luke. He yawns. I guess it’s a good thing that it’s not a school day. This will give Luke to time to get more sleep. “So I can make some tea and we can stay up to wait for your sheets or you can come stay with me.” I was fine with whichever Luke preferred, but I had a feeling he was going to want to go back to sleep. He looked really tired.

“I’m tired mum.” Luke says.

“Okay. Come on. Let’s get some more sleep, okay?” I say as I bring him up to my bedroom. Luke lays down next to me.

“I’m sorry, mum.”

I open my eyes at hearing Luke apologize again. I stroke his hair to the side.

“I’m not mad. I promise. It happens.” I say. I knew Luke didn’t mean it. I knew he definitely didn’t want this happening while his friends were here. It’s not like Luke wanted this to happen. And it’s not like he was ever toilet trained like most kids. So I couldn’t be mad at him.

“You’ll never get mad?” Luke asks.

“If I ever seem mad, when it comes to this, it’ll only be because I’m tired. But it’s not your fault. You can’t help it.” I tell him. I don’t want to say I never will because I could snap at him if I’m tired or for some other reason. I hope I don’t do that, but I know it can happen.

Luke yawns again.

“Come here.” I tell him. I wrap one arm around Luke and use the other to run my fingers through his hair. I kissed his forehead. “Now get some sleep. You don’t want to be tired when your friends are here.” Luke nods and closes his eyes. I follow that.

* * *

In the morning, I get up and put Luke’s clothes in the dryer. They were already dry for the most part, but a little more time wouldn’t hurt. And the sheets had to be completely dry before I put them back on the bed. I’ll probably do that when Maria and Luke go to the skate park to go meet up with Clyde and Jessie. Once I put them in the dryer, both Maria and Luke come downstairs. I make them toast to go with their cereal.

“What time are you going to the skate park?” I ask Luke.

“Around one.” Luke tells me.

“Okay, well, I’ll order the pizzas after you all are back here. Alright?” Luke nods at what I told him. I had to contact some people about some stuff while they were gone, so that gave me something to do. After breakfast Luke and Maria got dressed and then watched telly until I heard their mobile phones go off. I guess that meant it was time for them to go.

“We’re going mum.” Luke tells me. He gives me a hug first before they go out the door.

“Have fun!” I call before shutting the door. I hope he has a nice time.

_This will be good for him._

* * *

Luke’s POV

Maria and I walk to the skate park. It wasn’t that far from here. At first, I was quiet. I didn’t really have anything to say. Especially since I was sort of worried about tonight. I had to make sure I didn’t have another accident. I didn’t want any of them knowing. What if they didn’t want to be friends anymore?

“Luke, are you alright?” Maria asks.

“Yeah.” I say.

“So why weren’t you in your bed?” She then asks and my brain just freezes. At first I don’t know what to say. It takes a couple seconds before I can come up with a good lie—or a _decent_ lie.

“I got up before you.”

“Your sheets weren’t on your bed.” Maria points out and I really didn’t know what to say. Even with my mind—my mind of ten thousand humans—I couldn’t think of anything. I couldn’t think of a good lie.

“It doesn’t matter.” I say.

“You know you can tell me anything right?”

“It’s not important Maria. Why does it matter?” I ask. I didn’t want her to know about my problem.

“I’m just worried about you. You seem anxious.” Maria replies. Was it that obvious? Was I sweating or something? Well, that’s just great. And it seems like she’s not going to leave it alone until I tell her. Why can’t she just drop it?

“I had an accident.” I say. “Okay? Are you happy now?” I question as I wrap my arms around myself. Why couldn’t Maria just leave it alone? I didn’t want her to know. I would have just accepted that if it had been her.

“I figured.” Maria says.

“Did Sarah Jane tell you?” I ask and she shakes her head.

“No. I figured you didn’t decide to laundry at five in the morning.” Maria says and I laugh a little. I guess that kind of was a given, in a sort of way. “Luke, I don’t care. I mean it happens. It’s happened to all of us.”

“You were babies.” I say.

“You basically are. I mean, no one ever taught you so I’m not surprised that much. I’m sure your foster parents never taught you.” Maria says and I nod. I’m glad I have Maria around. I don’t know what I would do without her. She just seems to understand—or at least she tries to. It’s nice. I don’t think most other girls would be.

“It only happens when I get stressed.” I explain. Well that and when I also drink right before bed. I really need to stop doing that. I glance over at feeling Maria rub my shoulder.

“Well don’t worry. Tonight’s going to be fun.” Maria says and then pulls me along. We start to run to the skate park. I laugh a bit. Maybe tonight will be really fun. Maybe it is going to be more fun than I originally thought.

* * *

Maria and I got the park and saw Jessie sitting on top of a bench next to a few bags. Jessie gave Maria a hug and then she hugged me. Weird, I had only ever been hugged by Sarah Jane. It felt weird but nice. Then I watched as Clyde came over. He was wearing a helmet and skating over on some sort of board. I guess that’s why they call it a skateboard.

“Hey Lukey boy. Maria.” Clyde says.

“Has he fallen yet?” Maria questions.

“Only about five times.” Jessie answers before the girls begin to laugh.

“Ready to see how it’s done?” Clyde says, talking to me. I guess he was referring to the skateboarding. Before I could answer, Jessie chimed in.

“Yeah, if you want to teach him how to fall.” I chuckle a bit at Jessie’s interjection. “I’ll show him how it’s done.” Jessie puts on a helmet and then starts riding her skateboard on one of the ramps that was shaped sort of like a U. She was good—I think. Well, she wasn’t falling, so I guess that meant she was good.

“Hey.” Clyde says to get my attention.

“Hey.” I sort of awkwardly. Maybe he was just trying to get my attention and wasn’t just saying hi.

“Are we okay?” Clyde asks me and I sigh. I mean, I’m just surprised he decided to still come. I mean, I’m sure the blue bag is Clyde’s while the pink one is Jessie’s. I don’t think she needs two overnight bags.

“Yeah.” I replied. I was fine. I just didn’t want to about those sort of things. They didn’t need to worry about me. It’s not their business. It’s not like it’s happening to them. They shouldn’t have to care or worry about me.

“Okay well come on. Let me show you how it’s done.” Clyde says and starts to skateboard along with Jessie. He fell a couple times unlike Jessie who didn’t. They did it for a while and I stood next to Maria and watched. Then Clyde came over and gave his board so I could try. I was reluctant, but I didn’t want to say no.

“Are you sure about this Clyde? He doesn’t have any protection or anything.” Maria says.

“He’ll be fine.” Clyde says and he helps me a bit. I almost fall, but Clyde keeps me held up. Eventually I can sort of stand there on it without his help. “Now try to move.” I don’t really want to, but I do it, but quickly after I fell. I felt a stinging pain on my leg.

“Luke, are you alright?” Maria asks me and I nod.

“Sorry mate. Maybe that was a bad idea.” Clyde says. Yeah, I guess it wasn’t a good idea, but it was partly my fault. I should have said no.

“Luke, you’re bleeding.” Maria says and I look down at my jeans. It was seeping through my pants. It hurt a little bit, but not that much. Though, I wasn’t the best when it came to pain. Before I could say anything I felt Maria wrap an arm around me and bring me over to the bench. “JESSIE! WE NEED YOUR KIT!” Maria screams as she helps roll up my jeans. I could see blood. The cut doesn’t look deep. I hope not because I don’t want to get stitches again.

“Sorry Luke.” Clyde says.

“It’s fine.” I say, getting distracted as Jessie quickly comes over and starts to go through her bag. “What’s she getting?” I ask, turning to Maria. I heard her tell Jessie to get her kit. What kit?

“She’s got a first aid kit.” Maria explains.

“My mum’s crazy about this stuff. But I guess it came in handy, yeah?” Jessie adds as she hands Maria this kit with a red cross on it. My fingers tap on the table. Was this going to hurt? What was Maria going to do? I wish Sarah Jane was here. I always felt better when she was with me when I was hurt.

“You alright, Luke?” Maria asks as she opens the kit. I nod. I wasn’t going to tell them I needed her. I didn’t want to seem like a baby or anything. I could deal. I had to. “It’s just a scratch. You’ll be fine. I’ll just clean it up for you.” Maria says and I nod.

I stopped tapping on the bench when I felt someone take my hand. I glanced over and saw Jessie sitting next to me. This felt kind of nice and it made me feel a little better.

“This will sting a bit, alright?” Maria warns. I feel this slight sting as this cold liquid is used to clean the cut. It startled me at first which caused me to squeeze Jessie’s hand a bit. I hope she didn’t mind. But I gathered she didn’t as she didn’t let go—I hope she didn’t. Then she put a bandage on it.

“Maybe we should go back to Luke’s.” Clyde suggests.

“Yeah.” Maria and Jessie both nod.

“Let me get my board.” Clyde says, going over to where he left it.

“You okay?” I look over at Jessie and I nod. But then I realized then that I was still holding her hand. I can’t believe I didn’t even notice. I let go and stand up.

“Yeah. I’m okay.” I tell her. “Thanks.” I turn to her and let a small smile show. She did as well. It seemed she didn’t mind either. She puts her kit back into her bag as Clyde comes back over with his skateboard. Before we leave, Maria takes some pictures. She wanted to have some pictures of all of us together. Then we walked back to my house.

“Mum! We’re back!” I yell and then I hear the locking of a door before she comes downstairs. I give her a hug.

“Hello.” Sarah Jane says looking at the three. She knew Maria and Clyde but never officially meet Jessie. “I’ll go order the pizzas.” Sarah Jane takes me into the kitchen. She probably just wants to make sure she orders the pizzas correctly.

“So it’s a cheese, a meat-lovers, and a veggie?” Sarah Jane asks and I nod. “Well, I’ll get two cheese.” She adds as she picks up the phone to call the pizza place. I guess that was so we had a bit of leftovers over the week. I didn’t mind. I liked pizza and I didn’t like the idea of her trying to cook again. Apparently early yesterday she had another small fire.

She got off the phone and I saw a frown when she looked at my jeans. I guess the blood stain was obvious.

“Luke, did you hurt yourself?” Sarah Jane asks me.

“Just a scratch. I’m fine. Maria bandaged it. I’m okay.” I tell her. She didn’t have to worry. It was nothing. It was over and done with. Nothing she could do about it.

“Okay, well, did you have fun at the park?”

“Yeah.

“Okay, well I won’t keep you. Go have fun, alright?” Sarah Jane tells me and I nod. I guess I shouldn’t just keep them standing there by the door. I take them upstairs to my bedroom. I guess we’ll sleep in here. It’s big enough anyways.

“Okay what should we do?” Maria asks.

“Did Jessie actually bring her Xbox?” Clyde questions and I see Jessie take it out. She wasn’t kidding when she said she was going to bring that.

“And I brought _Call of Duty_.” Jessie says. I don’t know what that is but judging by Clyde’s expression he must know and like the game. She hooks up the console to my TV and then she turns on the game. Clyde and Jessie teach me the controls and what the goal of the game was. It was a shooter game. I don’t understand the logic in the game. Is it fun to kill people? I just don’t get it.

“Is it fun to kill people?” I ask.

“What?” The three of them stare at me.

“Isn’t that the goal of the game? To kill people? And games are supposed to be fun. So is it fun to kill people?” I explain my question. The room was silent. I guess neither of them knew how to answer that. If they didn’t know why they loved this game, why do they play it?

“It’s a game that you try to win. It’s fun to win. It’s fun to try.” Jessie says. I nodded and then went back to playing the game. I lost the first few times, but then I got better. It became really easy to get them. I guess they didn’t have the best strategy.

“Ha!” I exclaim as I beat them again.

“No fair!” Jessie complains.

“How can he beat us? He’s been playing twenty minutes.” Clyde says, throwing the control down. Maria and I begin to laugh.

“I guess you two aren’t as good as you think.” Maria comments. I grin, I guess there was something else I was good at besides tests. And I guess Jessie was right about one thing; it is fun to win games.

Then there was a knock at my door and Sarah Jane came in.

“Pizza is here.” She tells us and I follow my friends downstairs where we get some pizza. We got our food and drinks from downstairs, then we went back upstairs. I laughed when Jessie and Maria waved the veggie pizza in Clyde’s face which made him gag. It was funny.

“You gotta watch it with these girls, Luke. They’ll be the death of me with their love of vegetables and salad.” Clyde says.

“Shut it Clyde. Now anyways, what should we do?” Maria asks.

“Play again.” I say referring to the game we had been playing before on the Xbox.

“Haven’t you kicked our asses enough?” Clyde replies and I laugh. I just thought it would be fun—but it seemed it would only be fun for me at this point since they couldn’t beat me.

“We could play a different game.” Jessie suggests. “How about truth or dare?”

“Oh you’re on.” Clyde says.

“I’m not kissing you Clyde. Don’t get any ideas.” Jessie says, pointing at him while giving him a serious look.

“Who said I wanted to kiss you?” Jessie retaliates, which makes Maria laugh. “Okay. I’ll go first.” Jessie says and she looks between the three of us.

“Luke. Truth or dare?”

“Dare.” I say. I don’t know why. Was that the right answer?

“I dare you take a bite of the veggie pizza.” Jessie says after a minute. I guess she couldn’t come up with anything else. I made a face. The pizza had green peppers on it and I didn’t like peppers. If it wasn’t for that I wouldn’t have a problem with it. But I didn’t want to lose already. We brought multiple slices of the pizzas upstairs so we didn’t have to keep going downstairs, so I picked up one slice. I stared at it for a couple seconds before taking a bite and eating it.

“Look who’s braver than Clyde.” Jessie says and I laugh before taking a drink of pop to get the taste of peppers out of my mouth.

“He doesn’t like it either.” Clyde points out.

“I don’t like peppers.” I tell them.

“And he still took a bite.” Jessie says before holding up an “L” with her fingers, while looking at Clyde. “Anyways, Maria. You’re turn.”

“Clyde…” Maria eyes fall on him.

“I pick truth.”

“He’s such a baby.” Jessie laughs.

“What’s the stupidest thing you have ever done?” Maria asks.

“I don’t think we have time for the list Maria.” Jessie adds on.

“Shut it. Um well, at my old school. I trashed my head teacher’s office.” Clyde says.

“I guess we know how he got to this one.” Jessie says. “Luke your turn.”

“Um…Maria?”

“Dare.”

“Lick the carpet.” I say as it’s the first thing that comes to mind. I looked up good truth or dare questions so I saw some that might be funny.

“I’m so going to get you back for this Luke.” Maria says as licks my carpet. Gross. We went on for a while and it was pretty funny at some of the stuff we had to do. None of us wanted to lose so it went on for a while. A lot of the dares were funny. Jessie made me dance with Maria, which made Clyde roll on the floor laughing. I had no idea what I was doing, but it was fun.

Eventually it got back to Clyde. “I have a dare for Maria and Jessie. Do you girls accept?” I watch as the girls look at each other for a few moments before turning back to Clyde and nodding. I couldn’t help but wonder what this dare could be.

“I dare you two to kiss Luke.” Clyde says and I looked at him. What?

“What?” Jessie and Maria both ask in unison.

“You accepted. I said kiss him, not make out with him. Come on, the boy’s never been kissed.” Clyde says, referring to a previous truth when they asked if I ever kissed anyone before. Then Jessie and Maria sat on opposite sides of me. I kind of just sat there awkwardly. Were they really going to do it? “Hold on! I have to capture the moment!” Clyde says getting his mobile out.

Maria and Jessie lean in and kiss me on my cheeks. I feel my cheeks turn red as a small smile appears on my face.

“I got it.” Clyde says and shows us the picture.

“Awe. Send it to me.” Maria says and Jessie nods in agreement.

“I see Lukey boy enjoyed that. He can’t stop smiling.” Clyde says. I was smiling? I _am_ smiling? Oh. I didn’t even realize it. I try to stop, but how can I? That felt—I don’t even know how to describe that. _Good?_

“Shut it Clyde. You embarrassing him.” Jessie says.

“Should we watch a film now?” Clyde suggests.

“Are we seriously going to watch _Star Wars_?” Maria asks.

“It is my duty to education Luke here on the best movies of all time.” Clyde replies.

“Shouldn’t we watch _Jaws_ then?” Jessie chimes in. What was that? I think I passed it when I was going through the movies at the store. I think there was a shark on the cover. A movie about a shark?

“Luke, have you ever gone swimming?” Maria asks and I shake my head. “I think we should wait until he’s been in water before you scare him away from that for good.” I guess that meant it wasn’t exactly a happy movie then. A horror movie? I think I’d rather watch this.

“I’ll get some snacks.” I say and go downstairs to the kitchen. As I’m getting drinks, I see mum come downstairs.

“You having a fun time?” Sarah Jane asks me and I nod.

“We’re going to watch a film.” I say.

“Okay well, I’m going up to bed.” Sarah Jane tells me.

“It’s not two in the morning yet.” I say. I knew she stayed up late a lot, but I guess she can’t really do that with Jessie here. She didn’t want to be too careful with the attic while she’s here, I guess. That and maybe there was nothing really on her radar to investigate at the moment.

“Oh, cheeky.” I laugh at that. “Clyde is really rubbing off on you.”

“I beat him in video games.” I say and Sarah Jane. I guess she was happy that I was having fun. Mostly because I knew that was what she wanted me to do.

“I’m glad you’re having fun.” Sarah Jane says. I am too. This was really fun. It was nice having friends. Maybe I should start going to lunch—well I still might not want go to lunch because of Archie and David. I wish they’d leave me alone.

Then everything would be _perfect_.

“Come here.” Sarah Jane says, opening her arms. I walk over into arms and give her a hug. “Goodnight Luke.” She says before releasing me.

“Goodnight mum.” I say before she goes upstairs. Once she does, I grab the snacks and go back upstairs to my bedroom. I looked and saw the movie was on the screen and that my friends had changed into pajamas. I guess I should go change too. I put the snacks down and grab some pajamas. I got to the bathroom to change before going back into my bedroom. As I sat down next to Clyde, Jessie turned out the lights and Clyde started the movie.

“I thought _The Phantom Menace_ was the first one.” I comment.

“Episodes 1, 2, and 3 are prequels. 4, 5, and 6 are the original trilogy. Plus they are like ten times better than the prequels.” Clyde says.

“Oi! I like the prequels!” Jessie interjects.

“Well you would.” Clyde retaliates.

“Can you two shut up and watch the movie?” Maria said while she continued to laugh. I thought it was funny to watch Jessie and Clyde go at each other. It was amusing. I ate some popcorn while watching the first film. It was really good and interesting. And now I get why Clyde likes to call me _his padawan_ and _Skywalker_. After we finish the first film, I got up and went to the toilet. I wasn’t going to chance having an accident tonight. I was not doing that. Then we got through the fifth film. Seriously? Darth Vader is Luke’s father. That’s insane. I wasn’t expecting that. Clyde started the last film of the original trilogy, but I ended up falling asleep. I was really tired.

* * *

_I was cleaning my foster parent’s bedroom. They told me to clean the house while they were gone during the day so I assume that included their bedroom. I vacuumed first. Then I changed their sheets. I then went in into the master bathroom which mopped the floor and scrubbed everything in there. It was really gross. I think that was one of the dirtiest places. Oh, at least I’m almost done. Now I just had to dust. Then I could go maybe sit down before I had to start dinner—oh wait, they are going out tonight. I don’t have to cook. It’s been so long since I’ve gotten to sit down. I haven’t slept in days. I left up my shirt and the cut in my side was healing. I could put some pressure on it now. And the scars on my back don’t hurt as much anymore. It’s been hard to sleep with the stinging pain of my scars—which got from multiple punishments. I got these two days ago. I couldn’t sleep much because I was in so much pain. So maybe after this I can go try and sleep._

_I start to dust their dresser when I accidently knock something onto the floor._

_I pick it up and see it’s a gold ring with a red stone on it. It was really nice. It was beautiful. Maybe if I ever get out of here and have money, I could buy one for Sarah Jane. I think she’d like that. I know typically you buy something like that for a girlfriend, but it’s not like I’ll ever get a girlfriend._

_Who would like me anyways?_

_And it would be an excuse to see her again._

_“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!?” I turn around to see Silvia. She storms over to me and takes the ring from my hand._

_“I was cleaning—“_

_“Yeah, right. You were dusting my ring?” Silvia replies in obvious disbelief._

_“I was just picking it up.”_

_“Stealing and lying.” Silvia shakes her head at that. She grabs me by the ear and drags me out of the bedroom and into the living room. I guess she came home to change before dinner. I looked and saw George in the kitchen._

_“Please.” I beg._

_“George.” Silvia says and he turns around, glaring at me how he usually does. “He was stealing from me and he tried to lie about it. Punish him.” She lets go of my ear._

_“No—please—“ I try to beg, but George grabs me by my hair and drags me into the cellar. He throws me on the ground and takes off his belt. No! Not the belt! Not that! Anything but that!_

_“Stealing from my wife and then lying. I swear boy…” He trails off before smacking me in the face. “…you keep getting stupider.” He shakes his head and I flinch away. “Take off your shirt.”_

_“No.” I say._

_“Take off your shirt.”_

_“No.” I say with tears in my eyes. I know what crying will get me—it will be worse for me. But I can’t help it. I don’t want to. I hate the belt. Why can’t he just punch and kick me like usual? That hurts less. And he gets tired quicker than when he uses the belt. I flinch as the belt smacks the floor._

_“Take. Off. Your. Shirt.” He repeats slowly. “I’m not going to ask again.”_

_I take off my shirt. It was stupid to refuse. I’m stupid._

_He whips me with the belt multiple times. I cry out in pain each time. Tears roll down my face each time. I can’t stop myself. I can’t stop crying. I can’t. It hurts too much. Eventually I lost count of how many times he hits me with the belt. But eventually I fell over and curled up into a ball. It hurt so badly._

_“Please—Stop.” I beg as the tears hit the floor. “Please—stop—“_

…

“Luke! Wake up!” I shot up awake and see Clyde sitting next to me with his hand on my shoulder. It was just another nightmare. I take deep breaths—or I try to breathe. That was one of the really bad days. That’s where most of my scars come from. I remember the first time with the belt. George only did ten hits. But that time—oh it was so much more. And he did it slowly so the pain lingered. It was one of those _really_ bad days. All the days with them were bad, but there were days that were just horrible; that was one of those days.

“You alright?” Clyde asks and I sit up. I look and saw that I was in bed. He was sitting next to me. We were the only two in my bedroom now. Where were Maria and Jessie?

“Where’s Maria and Jessie?” I ask as I glance at the clock. It was two in the morning.

“They went to sleep in guest room.” Clyde says. Oh right. Girls would sleep in a different room to boys. Though I don’t see the problem as there was enough room in here for all of us.

“Sorry I woke you.” I say. I didn’t mean to do that, but at least my bed’s dry. That would have been so much worse if I woke him and I wet the bed. _Thank god, I didn’t do that._

“It’s fine Luke.” Clyde says as he puts his hand back on my shoulder. “Are you sure you’re alright?” He asks and I nod. I wasn’t really fine. I wanted my mum, but she was asleep. And I wasn’t going to get her now especially with Clyde being here. He’d think I’m a baby. So I wasn’t going to let him think I wasn’t anything but fine. Though, it was really hard not to cry. That was one of the worst ones I’ve had in a long while.

“You know it helps to talk about them.” Clyde says.

“What?”

“Nightmares.” Clyde clarifies. “I mean, I’m sure the dreaming you were just having wasn’t all sunshine and lollipops.” I grin a bit at that. Nope. That wasn’t even close. But Clyde couldn’t even begin to imagine what it was. He wouldn’t understand. Besides, there’s nothing he could do about it.

“Talking about them. That can help.” Clyde adds.

“No.” I say. Talking about it wouldn’t do anything. There was nothing to do about it anyways. It was over and done with. “It doesn’t matter.”

“Luke—“

“Talking about it won’t do anything. There’s no point in talking about it.” I say. Why couldn’t Clyde just leave it? It’s not like he would understand.

“Luke, listen. I don’t know what you’re dreaming about and you don’t have to talk to me about it. I’m certainly not really the comforting type, but you should talk to your mum about them.” Clyde says. No, I didn’t need to do that.

“What would talking about them do?” I ask.

“It’s hard to explain, but it’ll make you feel better. It’s just nice to get that stuff off your chest.” Clyde says.

“You don’t know—“

“Yeah, I don’t know what you’re dreaming about specifically. But I’ve had nightmares.” Clyde says with a sigh. “Look. My dad left me when I was ten and for a while, I had nightmares about it. About him telling me it was because of me, my mum leaving me. Stuff like that. And for a while, I didn’t tell anyone about them. But I eventually talked to my mum about them.” Clyde explains. I didn’t know that. I guess that’s why he didn’t have a dad around.

“And then what happened?” I ask.

“I felt a little better. I just felt relieved that I got that stuff off my chest. My mum’s great listener and she made me feel better.” Clyde says.

“Do you still have them at all?” I ask. I was curious. I wish I didn’t have them. I wish they would go away.

“I still have them time to time, but not as much as before.” Clyde says. So talking about them with his mum, maybe that made his brain think about them less when he went to sleep or something. “You don’t have to, but I’m just saying. Maybe it would help.”

I nodded. I would think about it. But I certainly wasn’t going to that now. My friends were here and it was two in the morning. I want to go back to sleep. Clyde went back onto his sleeping matt. I turned the lights out again and picked up my teddy bear from my nightstand. This sometimes helped me sleep better.

“Luke.” I hear Clyde say.

“Yeah?”

“It wasn’t about me, was it? Your nightmare?” Clyde asks.

“No.”

“Was it about Archie and David?”

“No Clyde.” I say. I thought he said I didn’t have to talk to him about this. And why did he ask if it was about him? Why would it be about him?

“Sorry, I was just curious.” Clyde says. That’s right, he did tell me he did get nosy. “I’m sorry about Friday. I was just worried about you.”

“I know. I’m sorry I snapped.”

“Maybe I can get Jessie and Maria to come and we can eat in the classroom.” Clyde says. He would do that? I don’t think Mr. Clarke would like that though.

“No. I can eat in the cafeteria.” I say. As long as Clyde walked with me, I’d be okay. Without him, I’d be more likely to get hurt. That’s what scared me. I wasn’t thinking that I was an intrusion on Jessie, Maria, and Clyde anymore. They are my friends. I’m there friend.

“Alright. But if those two idiots give you trouble. Let me know. Jessie and I will give ‘em hell.” Clyde says and I laugh a bit. That might be kind of funny. I probably won’t but the offer is nice, I guess. It’s not their business though.

I put the covers tighter and held my bear under my arm, but close to my face as I laid back down. I fell back asleep soon after that as I was tired.

* * *

In the morning, Clyde made us all eggs and bacon for breakfast. I didn’t even know Clyde could cook, but I wasn’t complaining. This was the first time I had scrambled eggs and bacon. They were really good. I know I prefer bacon soft than really crispy. I used to make it really crispy.

“You didn’t have to cook, Clyde.” Sarah Jane says when she comes down.

“Luke told me about the fire. I _really_ did.” Clyde replies and I laugh. Sarah Jane gives me a look and I give her a smile. It was true though. The fire department can vouch for me. But I guess she didn’t want everyone to know how she can’t even make eggs.

Soon after that Clyde’s mum came to get him.

“I’ll see you lot Monday.” Clyde says before he goes.

“Well Jessie and I are going to go to her house for a bit. We have a project due for English due tomorrow.” Maria says. They left shortly after Clyde did. I helped Sarah Jane clean up the kitchen and took a breath. I thought about what Clyde said about last night and had made a decision.

“Mum.”

“Yes?” Sarah Jane said, turning to me.

“I want to talk about my nightmares.”  
  



	10. Bad Day

**Disclaimer: I do not own Sarah Jane Adventures. I only own my OCs and plot.**

* * *

Sarah Jane’s POV

I almost didn’t believe it when Luke said he wanted to talk about his nightmares. It just seemed so sudden. And only a few days ago, Luke had quickly said he didn’t want to talk about them like he always does. But I suppose this is a good thing. I had always told Luke he could talk to me about them if he wanted or needed to. I have wanted him to tell me about them so maybe I could understand what goes on in that head of his.

 _Luke’s hurting._ He’s been hurting since that day I’ve found him. Though I’ve given him as much love as I can give him, I know whatever those people did to him still hurts.

I just hope talking about them will help like I hope.

I took him over to the couch to sit down and Luke told me about a couple of them. More recently, one he had last night. He tells me about how they thought he was stealing so they hit him with a belt. He also told me that it wasn’t the first time.

“The first time was quicker.” Luke says and I felt my stomach hurt. I remember seeing those scars on his back when I took him to see Harry. Now I know what they’re from.

This made me feel sick. It made me feel angry. How could those people do something like that to Luke? How could they do something like that to a child? How did those two get a fostering license in the first place?

“Mum?” Luke’s voice brings me back from my thoughts.

“Sorry.” I say. “Do you feel better talking about this?”

“A little. I guess.” Luke says. I guess I should say something, but I didn’t know what I could say. My mind was drawing blanks. I want to say something—something may to make him feel better, but I don’t know what to say or what will help.

I just wrap my arms around Luke and bring him close.

“You’re not saying anything.” Luke points out.

“I’m sorry Luke. I’m so sorry.” I say. That’s the only thing I could think of to say.

“It’s not your fault.” Luke says, but I still felt responsible. What if I had Mr. Smith do something that afternoon when I first found Luke? Maybe if I had done some things, I could have just had him do the adoption papers and then Luke would have never been with those people. I felt like there was something I could have done to prevent this.

“I just wish there was something I could have done—if only I had gotten to you before they did.” I say shaking my head. It had taken me two months to get my fostering license. If only I had gotten it sooner. Maybe then things would’ve been better for him.

“It’s not your fault.”

“Well, just know that nothing like that will ever happen here.” I promised.

“Do you want to talk about other ones?” I ask.

“Can we do it later, though?” Luke asks after giving me a nod. I knew that this was hard for him. It was hard for him to talk about the things that happened and I knew it would take time. But his is a big step.

“Yeah.” I say.

Luke was starting to talk about them to me. I guess that meant he was really trusting me now. I guess it made me happy that he was opening up more and more to me. “Come on.”

“Where are we going?” Luke asks.

“I thought we could watch something together? A nice, calming Sunday morning. Sound good?” I suggest and Luke nods.

“Can we watch _Star Wars_?” Luke asks and I laugh a bit. Clyde’s gotten to him again. Soon, before I know it, Luke will have more friends and maybe even a girlfriend. Well, I don’t think that will happen too soon—I guess, I hope not. I really don’t want to have to talk to Luke about that yet.

“Yes. It can be whatever you like.” I say. I guess that means either Clyde left his films here or Luke wanted to watch the one we got at the store yesterday. It didn’t matter to me. I was fine with whatever Luke wanted.

We went upstairs to my bedroom and I put the movie on. Luke cuddled up in my arms and we watched it together. While he kept his attention on the telly, my mind was elsewhere. All I could think about was Luke. I can’t help but worry about him. I know he’s doing better, especially since he’s starting to talk about his nightmares, but I just can’t help but feel like that’s not enough. I feel like there’s other problems he’s not telling me about.

I wonder if Luke should talk to someone about this stuff. Someone other than me. I know he’s comfortable with me and I wanted to avoid this as I’m exactly fond of therapists. I remember seeing one when I was thirteen after my friend Andrea died. All he did was tell me it wasn’t my fault over and over. It’s not like I blamed myself in the first place. I was just in shock that in moments, I lost my best friend like that—oh she was _so_ young. But, I guess my personal feelings for therapy isn’t the popular opinion. Though I may not have needed it that much—or cared for it—I feel like Luke might need it more than I might have. I can’t help but feeling this might be one of the few options I have for him.

“Luke.” I say.

“Yeah mum?”

“What do you think about talking to someone?” I ask.

“About?”

“Your nightmares and how you’re feeling. Stuff like that.”

“I talk to you about them.” Luke points out. Well, he was starting to talk about the nightmares, but technically he wasn’t always upfront with me about how he’s feelings and what’s going on at school. I don’t know—I just have this feeling that he’s keeping things from me. I don’t get a good vibe from it.

“I mean someone else Luke.” I try to explain better so Luke understands. “I mean a therapist.”

“Why?”

“I think it would help—maybe talking to someone else—or maybe even some other kids that may have gone through similar situations as you.” I knew not all kids might have, but it could help Luke feel like that he wasn’t the only one in the world going through these sort of things. He could feel like he wasn’t the only with these feelings, he might have.

“No.” Luke says.

“Are you—“

“No. I don’t want to.” Luke says quickly before I could even get more than two words out. I sighed. I really think it might be a good thing for Luke. To see that other kids go through similar problems like him, but I didn’t really want to force him. Maybe I’m just too paranoid.

“Will you at least think about it?” I ask. I just wanted him to think about it and consider the pros and cons of it. I know some people that said therapy really helped them. “You don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

Luke nods. At least he would think about it.

“Do you not want me to tell you about my nightmares?” Luke asks.

“No, no, it’s not that. I do want you to talk about them to me as long as you’re comfortable with it. Luke, it’s just that I feel like it might be good for you if you talk to some other people that may understand what you’re going through.” I explain as best as I could. I wasn’t going to pretend I was some expert on this sort of thing. I’m not. I don’t know what it’s like for Luke. I don’t know how he’s feeling and I certainly don’t know what it’s like to be hurt like he has been.

The only thing I could possibly understand in some way is the feeling of not liking to be alone. As a child, I was almost always on my own. My parents died and I was raised—if you could call it that—by my Aunt Lavinia. She was never in a place long enough to lick a stamp as some would say. So I was on my own a lot. So I knew what it was like to feel alone, but I knew it wasn’t the same way Luke could feel that way.

“I don’t want to.” Luke says once again.

“Alright. I won’t force you.” I say, trying to hide my slight disappointment in his decision. But I didn’t want to make him do something he didn’t want to do if it wasn’t completely necessary. Maybe I’m just paranoid and Luke’s doing fine at school. _Yeah, I’m probably just paranoid._

“Let me know if there’s anything I can do—that you’d like me to do—that could make you feel better about those nightmares or anything.” I add. Luke needed to know I was here for him. I think he knew that at this point, but I had to make sure he knows.

I’d do _anything_ for Luke.

“I like it when you hug me.” Luke says and I smile.

“Well, I like giving you hugs.” I reply as I place a kiss on his forehead. “I’ll give you all the hugs you want.” I added as I would never stop giving Luke hugs if he wanted them. I liked them myself. Luke being with me like this. It just made me happy. Luke made me really happy. Luke laughs a bit as pull him closer and run my hand quickly through his hair.

“I love you mum.” Luke says as he turns over on his side to face me.

“That’s good because I love you too.”

* * *

Luke’s POV

I was in the bathroom changing for Gym Class. I had come out of the stall and was washing my hands. When I looked up I saw Archie and David were standing next to me.

“Hello Luke.” Archie says.

“H-Hi.” I replied nervously.

“We’re going to have a fun time in Gym today.” David says. What? What do they mean? What were they going to do to me? I knew when they said things like that it meant it wasn’t going to be fun for me. Archie then shoves me before walking out of the bathroom.

I go over and stand next to Clyde.

“Hey, you wanna come over later? After the assembly?” Clyde asks. We were having an assembly to discuss classes for next term and then to say an early goodbye to our current head teacher whom was leaving for retirement after this term.

“I’ll ask my mum later.” I tell him.

“Ask her now.” Clyde tells me.

“She’s not here.”

“Text her.”

“We’re not allowed to use our phones.” I say. I didn’t want to get into trouble. I knew Clyde was going to say something else, but then we were startled by the coach blowing his whistle. I still don’t understand why he had to blow that and yell the entire time. We were inside most of the time and we could hear him fine without it.

“Listen up! We’re going outside today to play some football.” Coach says. “Now you’ll be split into two teams…” He trails off before calling our names and splitting us up into two groups. He separated Clyde and I. Why did he do that? Maybe it wasn’t intentional? I didn’t like this, but I had to deal. I wasn’t going to ask to be on his team.

Especially since Archie and David were on that team as well.

“Team two…” The coach shouts as he looks at Clyde’s team. “Take your shirts off” Why did they have to do that? I watched as everyone in that team took their shirts off.

“Why did you have to take your shirts off?” I ask Clyde as we slowly walk outside to the football field together.

“Different teams, Luke. How else are we going to tell the difference between team one and two?” Clyde explains. I guess that made sense. Why couldn’t we just have something to put over our shirts or something? At least I didn’t have to make mine off. I wasn’t going to want to do that.

“So how do you play football?” I ask.

“Oh right—you’ve probably never played. Okay, you can’t touch the ball with your hands. You try to kick it into the other team’s nets. You can pass to team mates.” Clyde explains and I nodded. I guess it’d be too easy to use your hands—or too much like basketball or something.

We played for a good twenty minutes and I figured out that I really am not good at football. I don’t really like it. I don’t see the appeal of it. Plus, I either get hit in the head or legs with the ball or I mess up trying to kick it.

“GET IT LUKE!” Someone yells as I go for it. I try to kick it, but I end up falling back—after missing. I hear everyone start to laugh. I guess to them it’s funny for some unknown reason to me.

“You alright, Luke?” Clyde asks as he helps me up.

“Hey Luke!” I turn to see David. “You know you’re supposed to kick the ball, right?” He starts to laugh, along with Archie whom was now standing next to him. I glance to my left and watch as Clyde glares at them.

I flinch as the loud whistle is blown close to my ear.

“Ow.”

“You’ll get used to it.” Clyde tell me as I put my hand over my right ear. There was a way to get used to have whistle blown in your ear? I didn’t see a possibility in that.

“OKAY!” Coach yells. I don’t know what’s worse, him yelling or screaming in my ear. “TEAM ONE TAKE YOUR SHIRTS OFF! TEAM TWO PUT THEM BACK ON!”

What?

I turn to Clyde whom was putting his T-Shirt back on. Everyone that had shirts on had taken them off—except me.

“SMITH!” Coach yells. “ARE YOU DEAF? TAKE YOUR SHIRT OFF!”

I just kind of stared. I couldn’t do that. I didn’t want to do that. I didn’t even want people to see me getting changed in the locker room—and that was usually no more than five people in there. Let alone the whole class.

“No.” I say.

“WHAT?!”

“I can’t.”

“What’s wrong Luke?” I hear David and Archie tease from somewhere behind me. I don’t care if anyone laughs at me, but I don’t want to take my shirt off. I can’t. I just can’t.

“I’m not going to ask you again.” Coach says, taking a step closer to me. His tone suggested he was getting angry and frustrated. I don’t understand what the point was. It’s just a stupid game and it’s just a shirt. I’m not even good anyways. Why can’t I just sit and watch?

“Coach, I can switch teams with Luke—“ Clyde tries to offer.

“SHUT UP LANGER!” He yells.

“No.” I whisper.

“Take your shirt off or I’ll be sending _you_ to the head teacher.” He threatens. I couldn’t have that either. Then he’d call Sarah Jane and what if she decided she didn’t want me anymore because of getting all these calls? I didn’t want that. But I didn’t want to do _this_ either. They’d see everything. I don’t want anyone to see. It was enough my doctor and Sarah Jane had to see them.

This would be so much worse.

“Five seconds.” Coach says before slowly counting down.

I take off my shirt and hold the rolled up shirt over my stomach so no one can see that I don’t have a naval. It was enough that people would see my scars.

“Oh god…” I hear someone whisper.

“Are those…?”

“That’s a lot of scars.”

“Gross.”

“What a _freak_.” I could tell that was Archie’s voice.

I turn around slightly and see everyone staring at me. I knew this would happen. They were all looking at my scars. Most of them were from the belt. Some of the bruises I had are from the last night I ever saw George.

“Shit.” I hear Coach say. “Put your shirt back on. No one needs to see those.”

“He’s such a freak.” I hear David say once again.

I did the only thing I could think to do next. I ran. Everyone started to laugh as I did, but I didn’t care. I needed to get out of there. I ran back into the school and went into one of the bathroom starts where I started to cry.

Clyde’s POV

I watched as Luke ran off, upset at what just happened. I should have said something more. I knew Luke didn’t want to get dressed in front of people. I knew there had to be for a reason for that. He wouldn’t tell me and I could see why.

That’s _horrible_.

What’s worse is everyone was just staring at him and making comments.

“Shut up! All of you!” I yelled.

“I guess he’s truly damaged.” I hear Archie comment and I felt this heavy urge to go over and punch him. But I wasn’t going to do that. Not now.

“Why do you have to be such an asshole?!” I yell at Coach. I know I’ll get in trouble for that, but I don’t care. He deserves it after what he forced Luke to do and then what he said after. Couldn’t he just think that if someone didn’t want to take their shirt off it obviously was for a reason?

“GET OUT OF HERE LANGER!” Coach yells.

“Gladly.” I comment before I quickly run off the field. As I got to the gym, I see Jessie. I knew she had Gym this period, but it was with a different teacher.

“I just saw Luke. He looked upset.” Jessie says and I nod.

“Coach was being an asshole. Archie and David were being assholes. Most of the class were being assholes. Same as always.” I say simply. “I can’t explain—I’m sorry—I have to find Luke.” I say as I go past her and into the bathroom. I had to find Luke. Plus I knew I shouldn’t explain to Jessie what I know. So many more people than Luke wanted to, know about his scars. I think I shouldn’t add to the list. If Jessie wants to know, she’ll have to get it from Luke.

Once I stepped inside the bathroom I could hear crying. I walk in slowly until I get to the only stall in the bathroom that was closed. I knocked.

“Luke?” I say, but there’s no answer. The whimpering continues. “Luke? It’s Clyde.”

“Go away.” I hear Luke choke out.

“Luke? Are you alright—okay stupid question. Of course, you’re not alright.” I shake my head. That was a stupid thing to say. Luke obviously was _not_ alright. I tried to think of something to say.

“I’ll be fine.” Luke says, but I don’t believe that.

“Luke—don’t listen to them. They’re assholes.” I say. He really shouldn’t. People can be stupid and big jerks. Especially when it comes to something like this and they don’t really understand. I could tell most people were freaked out—besides Archie and David whom are just assholes to begin with.

“Just go.” Luke says. I don’t think that’s a good idea right now. Luke needed a friend.

“Do you want me to call Sarah Jane?” I ask. I knew that usually helped and made him feel better.

“No! Just leave me alone!”

I sighed. I had picked up his bag before I came inside the bathroom, so I slid it into the stall for Luke to have when he was ready to come out. He could change. I then slowly left the bathroom and walked to the head teacher’s office. I was not letting Archie, David, or Coach get away with what happened. Nobody ever reports these things, but this _couldn’t_ stand. Someone had to do something.

Luke needed a friend. And this is what a good friend would do.

* * *

Luke’s POV

I didn’t come out the bathroom until the bell rang for lunch period. I was too upset and too humiliated to get changed or go to class. That was awful. I don’t know if just going to the head teacher would have been better. Maybe that would have been the better choice.

I don’t know.

Maybe both choices were equally bad.

I’d probably still feel horrible with either choice.

I changed and then I just stared at myself in the mirror. _I hate myself_. I sometimes wish I could just not exist. Sometimes I wish the Bane never made me. I was a failed experiment anyways. Sometimes I think it might have been better if they had _killed_ me.

Sometimes I just hate everything and want to disappear.

I hate it here. School sucks.

Sure, I have Clyde, Maria, and Jessie, but I’m sure they won’t stick around that long. Especially after what Clyde saw. He’ll probably call me a freak at some point soon. He’ll tell Jessie and Maria, then they won’t like me anymore. Then maybe Sarah Jane will decide she doesn’t want to deal with me and all my problems anymore. I’m surprised she’s lasted this long.

It’s just like George and Silvia told me: _Who would want me?_

* * *

I went to my classes and didn’t say a word.

I didn’t answer the teacher’s questions during lectures. I didn’t ask any questions when I was confused. I didn’t even talk to Clyde, Maria, or Jessie when we had our classes together.

I didn’t want to talk. I was too upset.

I think that’s why Clyde didn’t try more than once to get me to talk.

After last period, I sighed at realizing that I had to go to the school assembly. I didn’t want to go. I just want to go home and go to bed. Today was _terrible_. I just want to go to bed and be alone while I wish that today along with many other days hadn’t happened.

“Luke.” Jessie approaches me. “Are you alright?”

“I just want to go home.” I tell her.

“I saw you during Gym. Are _you_ alright?” Jessie asks me and I sigh. I don’t want to talk about that. I really hate this day. I really hate my life sometimes. Why do all these things have to happen to me?

“I don’t want to talk about it.” I tell her.

“Okay. Well, I’m here if you do.” Jessie says as Clyde and Maria walk over.

“Luke, are you okay?” Maria asks.

“Can everyone _stop_ asking me that?!” I snapped.

“We’re worried about you.” Clyde says as he puts his hand on my shoulder. I flinch away.

“Oh, look it’s the crybaby.” I look and see Archie, David, and even Becca coming over towards us. _Oh great_. This day just keeps getting better.

“He looks mad.” David teases.

“Awe is the baby sad?” Archie teases.

“Shut up!” Jessie exclaims. “Do you want some of this?” Jesse threatened the three of them while holding up her fist.

“Oh yes, please…” David says before Jessie shoves him angrily.

“Hey, you should see this video.” Becca says taking her phone out. The text thread, I noticed said Archie. He had sent her some video. I had a feeling it wasn’t something we’d like. I blanched at seeing it was a video of me from Gym Class.

I looked away as I knew Maria and Jessie would probably be staring at me.

“Damaged goods.” Archie says.

“What’s _good_ about him?” David replies and I feel tears in my eyes. I want it all to stop. I just want to go home. I hate it here. I hate everything about school. _I hate it_. No one understands and all they do is mock me.

I hate myself. I hate everything.

I then stare in surprise as Clyde punches Archie and then David.

They look back at him in shock as their noses begin to bleed.

I blinked. Did that really just happen?

“You going to pay for this!” Archie yells only to receive another punch from Clyde. He then moves up and punches me in the face. I fall backwards and put my hand on my right cheek as that’s where he had hit me. I look up as Jessie moves to shove them.

“HEY! WHAT’S GOING ON HERE?” Mr. Clarke comes over and asks, getting in between the bullies and my friends.

“They were making fun of Luke.” Clyde says and I watch as Jessie takes Becca’s phone only to give it to Mr. Clarke who watches the video they had of me. _No!_ I don’t want anyone else to see it or know about it! I started to cry.

This literally was one of the worst days.

“Luke—Luke, why don’t you come with me?” Mr. Clarke asks as he leads me out of the Gym and into his office. I sit down and he hands a cold water bottle to put on my face. I guess it’s better than nothing. It’s not like they had ice here. I put it on my face and wince. I hope I don’t have to go to the dentist again. _Ow, this hurts_.

“Stay here, okay. I’m going to call your mum okay?” Mr. Clarke tells me.

I nodded—not feeling like correcting the fact that she wasn’t my mum.

She will change her mind about keeping me—probably after today for _sure_.

* * *

Sarah Jane’s POV

I had finished my work and decided to take a short break. I went through my emails and found a message from Jo Grant— _Jones_. We had met a little while back before Luke came into the picture. She was the companion to the Doctor before I was. We had sort of gotten together and briefly discussed _certain things_. Apparently she wanted to meet up again and talk about the good ol’ days again along with what’s going on in the present.

I was about to reply to her when my phone rang.

Before I picked up the phone I knew it had to have something to do with Luke. I just knew it. Though I was surprised when I picked up to not hear the voice of Clyde, Maria, or Jessie, but one of the teachers at Park Vale. They wanted me to come to pick up Luke, but also to talk about some things.

I knew that probably couldn’t be good.

I picked up my keys and got in the car.

I just hope Luke’s alright and he’s not hurt again.

I went to the office and I was escorted to the head teacher’s office where I sat down. Then whom came in along with him was another man—I assumed was the teacher that had called me.

“You must be Luke’s mum.” He says as he shakes my hand. “I’m Mr. Clarke. Luke’s Science Teacher. Very nice to meet you Miss Smith.”

“Sarah Jane, please. The pleasure is all mine as Luke tells me how he loves your class.” I shake it back before sitting down. It was true. Luke always told me how Mr. Clarke was his favorite teacher and how he loved Science Class the most.

“Now I wish this was under better circumstances.” The teacher adds.

“Has Luke done something wrong?” I ask. Though I don’t think Luke would do something intentional. I knew very well that Luke didn’t like to get into trouble.

“No. Quite the opposite.” He says.

I didn’t like how that sounded.

“How is Luke at home?” He asks me. “Has he been acting different since he has started attending this school?”

“Well Luke hasn’t been living with me that long. About two months. I’m fostering him.” I clear up so they don’t think I’m a terrible mother or anything. “He hasn’t been acting much different since when I first brought him into my home.” I say.

“What is this about?” I ask. I knew something has happened and I needed to know what.

“There’s been an altercation at the assembly. Luke was hit by this boy Archie Jenkins after another student Clyde Langer had hit him along with another student David Miles.” He explains. Luke was hurt. _Oh no_.

“It seems there’s a video of your son during today’s Gym Class. We had the kids go outside since we needed to set up the Gym for the assembly. Coach—the one who teaches the class—had them outside to play football. According to Clyde, he forced Luke to remove his shirt against his wishes and there were some scars on him—” He tells me what happened during Gym Class. What Coach made Luke do, what he said, and what the other kids said. “—Archie apparently recorded the incident and sent it around the school.”

I put my head into my hands. Oh Luke.

“Sarah Jane, were you aware of this bullying because it seems to have been going on for a while.” He adds. What?

“Luke’s been eating in my room during lunchtime.” Mr. Clarke adds.

“I only knew of one incident on his first day.” I say honestly. Why didn’t Luke tell me or talk to me about this stuff? I thought he was doing better.

“Well we just want you to know. We’re concerned about Luke. He’s a very bright student, but it seems this problem is getting him withdrawn.” Mr. Clarke says.

“We’ve suspended those two boys for two weeks and Clyde Langer for a week.” The head teacher says.

“Why Clyde? He was just defending Luke.” I point out.

“I know, but he fought another student.” He explains. “My hands are tied.”

I really was getting angry and upset. My boy was hurt. Luke was hurt—he’s been hurting and I didn’t know. He didn’t tell me. He was constantly hurting and I couldn’t do anything. And Clyde defended him and he gets in trouble too.

This—this is _bad_.

Then suddenly a teacher walks into the room in sweats. Was this the coach that was partly—was that even the right word?—responsible for what happened with Luke this morning?

“Coach Evans, this is Sarah Jane Smith, the _mother_ of Luke Smith.” The head teacher said. I took noticed of how his tone changed when referring to me as Luke’s mother. I may only be his foster parent currently but he is my son. _Nothing_ would change that.

“Oh.” He says. Oh? _Oh?_ That’s all he has to say?

“That’s all you have to say?! You humiliated my son!”

“He did that all on his own.” He replied and I felt like pinning him to the wall, but I didn’t want to get violent. That wouldn’t end well for me.

“Do you take pride in yourself by humiliating children? This isn’t the first time I’ve heard something like this.” I say before turning to the head and Mr. Clarke. “Are you going to continue to let him treat children like this?” I question. If this is a type of school they are running. One where teachers can verbally abuse children, then I certainly don’t want Luke going here anymore.

“We’re dealing with this, Miss Smith.” He replies.

I take a breath to control my emotions.

 _He better be dealing with this_.

“Can I take Luke home now?” I ask.

“Yes. I’ll take you to him.” Mr. Clarke says leading me the way. I gave him a hug, but he pulled away from me and walked out the room. Luke didn’t usually pull away from me like that.

I think we need to have a talk.

* * *

I take Luke home and he goes inside quickly. He starts to go upstairs to his room, but I wasn’t having that. We needed to have a conversation. “Hey!” I say, not too loudly to upset him, but loud enough so he knows I’m serious. He stops. He then turns to face me. He still had his hand over his cheek. Though I can imagine that would have hurt—being punched in the face in all. _I would know_.

“I—“

“Sit on the couch.” I told him and he doesn’t argue. While he went in there, I quickly went into the kitchen and got an ice pack out of the freezer. I sat next to Luke and held it against his cheek. The cold at first shocked him, but then he took it from me. I wonder if I should have him get that looked that—oh Luke won’t like that—he will like that even less than he’s going to like what I have to say in our conversation. Maybe I’ll Mr. Smith scan him to make sure he’s okay. I won’t get him checked out unless necessary.

“I don’t have to see a doctor, do I?” Luke asks.

“I’ll have Mr. Smith scan you first. So, only if you really need it.” I tell him.

Luke sighed in what looked like relief. At least that made him feel better about one thing. I’ll give him that for a few seconds. He needs a moment of some peace before he hears what I have to say. When this conversation is over—well he’s not going to like how it ends—I know Luke won’t be very happy with me.

I held out my arms out to him, thinking like always he would go into my arms for a hug. But this time he doesn’t. He just turns away from me.

Luke never did that before.

Luke never said no to a hug—after all he said he liked it when I hugged him. He never once pulled away from me. I knew Luke needed that. But for some reason, he was rejecting it. Why? I knew something was wrong.

“Luke, what’s wrong?” I ask.

He doesn’t answer.

“Luke?”

He just shrugs.

“Luke, you need to talk to me.”

“Why?” He asks after a few more moments of silence.

“Because I care. I want to know how to help you.” I explain. I love Luke so much and it actually pained me to see him upset; I don’t like seeing my son in pain.

“You can’t.” Luke says before turning to me. “Everyone’s laughing at me.”

“Clyde, Maria, and Jessie weren’t laughing.” I say. I knew they wouldn’t especially from what I was told about Clyde coming to Luke’s defense in his own way. I honestly would have liked to hit that teacher, but I couldn’t. I was able to control myself—mostly because I knew it would only end badly for me.

“They won’t like me anymore.” Luke says.

“Don’t be silly.” I say. That was unlikely. I’ve seen those three when they are with Luke. They truly liked him and cared about him. I knew if Clyde certainly didn’t care that much about him, he wouldn’t have done what he did.

“They saw _them_.” Luke says. It took me a moment to realize he was talking about his scars.

“Luke, I don’t think they won’t like you because of that. Why would those stop them from liking you?” I ask and at first he doesn’t answer.

“Because I’m a _freak_.” Luke says and I frowned. I touch Luke’s shoulder, but once again he pulls away. I guess he didn’t want me touching him right now.

“Luke, just because you have those scars— _those_ aren’t going to stop people from liking you. Some kids may have laughed or have said some things, but not all people are going to like you for one. And second, well they may not understand.” I explain as best I could.

“But—“

“Luke. People will like you for you. Not because of you having scars or not.” I tell him seriously. “And if Clyde thought that way about you, he wouldn’t have hit that boy that was saying those things. He did that because he cares about. The same reason why Jessie and Maria defended you.”

“Who told you?”

“The head teacher.” I tell him. “He and Mr. Clarke always told me about lunch time and those two boys who have been bothering you.”

Luke turns away again.

“Why didn’t you tell me those boys have been bullying you?” I ask.

“I don’t know.” I sighed at Luke’s response. Not an answer I was hoping for.

“Luke. I thought we discussed you telling me things?” I add.

“Yeah.”

“Then why didn’t—“

“I get it! I’m a problem! Why don’t you just get it over with and rid of me?!” Luke snaps and I just stare at him, not able to say a thing.

“W-What?” I ask, but he doesn’t reply. He turns away from me once again. “Why would I do that?”

“Because you won’t want me anymore. You won’t want to deal with a problem—a stupid kid like me.” Luke says.

“Luke, I told you—“

“You’ll change your mind and make some excuse for why, but you’ll get rid of me. You won’t want me anymore. It’s like they said— _no one will_.” I heard Luke start to cry and brought him into my arms. I just held him as he cried. I didn’t say a word. What could I say? Would he even believe me?

“I won’t ever do that, Luke.” I feel like crying myself. “I love you and that feeling I have for you will never go away even if I wanted them to. He didn’t reply. He just laid there in my arms and cried for a while. I held him and rubbed his back, hoping that showed him—I hoped staying here and comforting him was enough to convince him for now because if not, I don’t know what I can do.

Luke was so scared. He felt so alone. Luke felt so worthless. Luke thought everyone would eventually leave him. It made my heart break.

Eventually he stopped crying. He ended up tiring himself out and fell asleep. I kept him there for a while. I didn’t move. Luke being asleep was better than him being awake right now. I don’t want him to start crying again; I hate it when he cries.

I do know one thing for sure now.

Luke needs to go to therapy.


	11. Therapy

**Disclaimer: I do not own SJA. I only own my OCs and the plot.**

* * *

Sarah Jane’s POV

I kept Luke home the next couple of days. Maria would come over and bring him his work so he wouldn’t fall behind in his classes. But I knew keeping him home right now was the best thing for him. After what happened, Luke needed some time away from that place. He needed time away from those boys. A few days wouldn’t hurt.

Luke was quiet the night he came home—well he slept for the most part; it had been hard day for him. He slept, only to wake up to go up to his bed. The next day he seemed to be feeling better. He came downstairs and we spent the day together once again. He also seemed happier to be getting away from the school for a day. Maria came over to do Math homework with him—mostly because she needed his help—and Luke was happy to do that.

I knew Luke’s only problem with the school were those boys. I knew not being there would help him. I knew he would have to go back eventually, but for now—this break—this is good for him.

On Tuesday Night, I got an email from the Head Teacher at Park Vale. He told me Coach Evans had been fired. He also told me one of the boys that had been bullying Luke—Archie—had been suspended for two weeks. Though I already knew that part from our meeting. I also knew Clyde had been punished too even though I think that’s wrong, but I couldn’t argue. I hope he doesn’t get into too much trouble at home.

At least Luke wouldn’t have to worry about that teacher anymore.

I guess they really had done something about him. _Good riddance!_ He deserved that and more for what he’s been doing to Luke and probably countless other kids as well; adults shouldn’t treat kids like he had been.

He also sent me a little side note saying that he, along with Mr. Clarke, would be keeping a close eye on Luke until the end of the term. I had remembered reading something about the current head teacher going on retirement after the end of this term.

I just hope the new one will be just as—or even more—helpful to Luke in the new term. But we had a little time before that happens.

At least Luke will be safe until then.

The next morning I had gotten up at the sound of someone knocking on the door. I was surprised to see Clyde.

“Morning Sarah Jane.” Clyde says once I opened the door.

“Clyde. What are you doing here?” I asked. I knew he wouldn’t be at school with being suspended, but I was surprised he was here. Was his mother okay with him going out with all that’s happened? There goes my journalist instinct—curious about everything.

“I was hoping to see Luke.” Clyde says. “Don’t worry. My mum knows I’m here. I told her what happened with the whole thing and she calmed down a bit.”

“He’s still asleep, but you can come in if you’d like.” I tell him as I step aside. After Clyde walks inside, I close the door behind him and he follows me into the kitchen. “I was just about the make tea.”

“Mind if I cook something?” Clyde asks.

“Be my guest.” I laugh as I put the kettle on. I’m sure Clyde would be better at that than me especially after last time. I’m also sure Luke would like to wake up to something other than tea and toast. I finished making the tea and poured a cup for Clyde as he cooked some bacon and eggs. I looked up when Luke walked downstairs.

“Morning Lukey boy.” Clyde greets Luke, whom sits down at the table.

“I could smell it form upstairs. I got scared mum was cooking again.” Luke comments and both boys laugh. I didn’t even comment as I knew how bad of a cook I am. Luke didn’t fail to remind me.

“You know how you can tell it’s me Luke?” Clyde questions and Luke shakes his head. “When it smells like food instead of a fire.”

“Oi! Watch it.” I warned.

I took some of the food to the attic while the boys could talk for a while. Luke would need that because I had scheduled his first therapy session this afternoon at three. He wasn’t going to be happy about it, but he had to go.

Luke _needed_ this.

* * *

Luke’s POV

I ate slowly to saver the flavor. It was _so_ good. Sometimes I wish Sarah Jane could cook like Clyde can. It’s really good. Though I like getting take away, sometimes it’d be nice to have something cooked at home.

“You should come over to my house for dinner sometime. My mum lives for my pasta dishes.” Clyde tells me and I nodded. I would definitely have to do that some time. Home cooked Italian dinner sounded _really_ nice.

“I’ll have to take you up on that.” I reply as I eat another fork full of eggs.

“Maria told me you’ve been staying home.” Clyde then says and I nodded.

“She let me stay home.”

“She also told me Archie got suspended and Coach got fired.” Clyde tells me and I stared at him. Was he serious?

“Really?”

“Yeah, so you don’t have to worry about Coach ever again and Archie for two weeks.” Clyde says. I felt better. The thought of going back to school—well I still didn’t want to go, but I felt a little better about it now.

“What about David?” I ask.

“He’s nothing without Archie.” Clyde says and I laugh a bit. I noticed those two were always together and David was never the first to do anything. “He won’t bug you, don’t worry.” I guess that was good. For at least I week, I won’t have to worry about those two.

“When will you be back?” I ask. I knew Clyde had gotten suspended too because he hit Archie and David a few times.

“Monday.”

“I’m sorry.” I say. If it hadn’t been for me, Clyde never would have gotten suspended. It’s my fault he got into trouble.

“What for? It wasn’t your fault. And besides, I’ve been wanting to punch those two assholes for a very long time. They deserved it.” Clyde says, but it doesn’t really make me feel better about Clyde getting in trouble. But I won’t say anything about it again.

Clyde and I talked for a while. Sarah Jane left us alone while she went to do some work or something, leaving Clyde and I just to talk. We talked for a while. It was nice. He then said I should come over Friday and I said I would. I would ask Sarah Jane later, but I was sure she would say yes.

Clyde left around one and I went upstairs to get dressed at Sarah Jane’s request. I got the impression we are going somewhere. I don’t know where but it seemed like she had plans to go somewhere. To the shops, maybe? I got dressed and then went downstairs to watch telly for a while. I ended up falling asleep on the couch for a while. Sarah Jane woke me up a little after two.

“Mum?”

“It’s almost half past two.” She told me.

“Sorry.”

“It’s okay. You must have been tired.” Sarah Jane says as she ran her fingers through my hair. I shut my eyes. _It felt nice_. Sarah Jane then sat next to me on the couch. I put my head on her lap and she continued to run her fingers through my hair. _It felt so nice_.

“Are you feeling better?” She asks me. I knew she was referring to how I was on Monday. I felt much better now. That had been a _really_ bad day. But after staying home for a few days, I felt much better. Also learning coach was gone, along with Archie being suspended was good news. When I went back to school at least I wouldn’t have to worry about him for a few days.

“Yeah.” I told her. I then noticed she was dressed like she was when she was going to go out. “Are we going somewhere?”

“Yes. And I need to talk to you about that.” Sarah Jane says and I frowned. Why did I get the feeling that I wasn’t going to like this?

I sat up and leaned against Sarah Jane once she wrapped an arm around me.

“What’s going on mum?” I ask.

“I’m taking you to see a therapist.” Sarah Jane tells me and I frowned. What? I thought she said that I didn’t have to talk to one if I didn’t want to. I told her I didn’t want to.

“You told me I didn’t have to.”

“That was before.”

“Before? I don’t understand.” I was confused. I didn’t understand why she had changed her mind. She said it was my choice. She said I didn’t have to go. She said she wouldn’t force me to go.

“Luke, you didn’t talk to me about any of this stuff that was going on at school. You aren’t talking to me about these things. You’re just keeping them to yourself and that’s not a good thing to do. I can’t help you if you don’t talk to me and you need to talk to someone.”

“No, I don’t want to go.” I tell her. I didn’t want to go then and I don’t want to go now.

“Luke, you were so upset when you came home. I don’t like seeing you like that. You need this. You need to go.” Sarah Jane says. She sounded really serious. It sounded like I didn’t have a choice, just like when I had to go to the doctors.

I get up and go to my room. I lay in bed.

I hate this.

I don’t want to go.

* * *

Not too long later there was a knock on my door. I knew it was Sarah Jane, whom had come to tell me it was time to go, but I didn’t get up. I don’t want to go.

“Luke.”

She knocks again and I don’t answer.

“Luke, we need to go.”

“I don’t want to.” I say, turning on my side, facing my window instead of the door as I hear it being opened. “I don’t want to go.” I repeat once I knew she was in there waiting for me to get up.

“You have to.” Sarah Jane says.

“No.”

“Yes.” Sarah Jane insists.

Why couldn’t we just not go? I would talk to her about whatever she wanted if she just let me stay home.

“I’m not going.” I say, it sounded more like a statement. I was sort of hoping she would give up and just let it go.

“Luke, you need someone to talk to. Someone that’s a professional at this. I’m not. _You have to go_!” She raised her voice. I felt my stomach start to hurt. Sarah Jane never once yelled at me. She never did that before. I actually was starting to think that would never happen. I know she won’t hurt me—she promised that—but I didn’t like being yelled at. I don’t like yelling. It scares me.

I started to cry.

Very soon after that I felt Sarah Jane wrap me into a hug.

“I’m sorry I snapped.” Sarah Jane tells me as I started to calm down.

“Yelling scares me.” I said as I turned to look at her.

“I know I’m sorry.” She gives me a tight hug, which felt comforting.

“Do I really have to go?” I ask once again, hoping she had changed her mind.

“Yes Luke. You have to.” She tells me and I frown. “He won’t judge you. All you have to do is talk and you don’t have to talk about things you aren’t ready for. This is to help you. He can also give you ways to help deal with the stress you have. I can even go in with you if you’d like.”

I nodded.

If I had to go, then Sarah Jane coming in the room with me made me feel a lot better.

* * *

The drive to the place was quick. She took me inside and we sat down to wait until this therapist would see me. Why did I have to wait? I didn’t even want to be here.

“Why do I have to wait?” I ask.

“Because he’s seeing someone else right now.” Sarah Jane tells me and I huff. I did not want to be here. I wanted to go back home. This was stupid—well it’s not exactly stupid. It works for some people, but I just didn’t like the idea of it. I don’t want to talk to some stranger. I can barely talk to Sarah Jane as it is. Why does she think this will be good for me?

“I want to go home.” I say.

“We will go home after your session.” Sarah Jane says and I cross my arms, upset. I don’t want to go in there with whoever this person is. “Luke, can you please just try? I’ll be in there with you.”

I huffed, before nodding. That’s all she was asking of me? Though I knew if I said no, she would make me go in there anyways, which didn’t seem fair. But I guess I should at least try and do what she wants. I look up at feeling her wrap an arm around me. Though, that wasn’t very comforting right now.

I look up at hearing the door. I was expecting to see this therapist guy walk out, but instead I see— _Jessie?_

“Jessie?” I say and she looks over at me.

“Hi Luke.” Jessie says as she comes over. Then Sarah Jane gets up apparently to get a drink of water, but I had a feeling she was really just giving us space to talk. Jessie sits down next to me once Sarah Jane had gotten up.

“What are you doing here?” I ask.

“Seeing my therapist.” Jessie comments and I look down at floor. Well, that was a really stupid question. What else would anyone be doing here?

“Sorry, stupid question.” I say as Jessie laughs a bit.

“It’s fine.” Jessie says. “You don’t look very thrilled.”

“I’m not. She’s making me.” I tell her glancing over at Sarah Jane whom was filling a paper cup with cold water.

“Don’t worry, you’ll be fine. You don’t have to do or talk about anything you don’t want to. He won’t force you.” Jessie explains and that actually was relief. I didn’t have to tell him everything. I didn’t want to—well I didn’t really like the idea of telling this stranger anything.

“I didn’t know you went here.”

“Yeah, I don’t really bring it up during free period, but I do.” Jessie says and then the door opens again.

“Luke.” This tall man comes out and says. I sighed. I didn’t want to talk to him. I’d much rather stay out here or go somewhere and talk with Jessie.

“I guess you have to go.” Jessie says and I nod. Unfortunately, I do. “Text me later. Maybe you can come over afterwards and we can talk or just hang.” Jessie adds, getting up and leaving. Once she does, Sarah Jane comes back over. I walk closely next to her as we go back into a room with the tall man whom had called my name.

I looked around the room.

The first thing I took notice of was this small table further back that had bunch of crayons and paper. There also were toys in the corner. Was this some office for little kids? I guess little kids would come see therapists as well.

Then I see a couch and then a couple feet away was a chair. They were in front of a small round coffee table that had a clip board on it. I guess that was for taking notes. I wonder what he’ll think of me if I don’t tell him anything or what he’ll think of me if I do tell him things.

I sit down on the couch next to Sarah Jane.

“Would you like something to drink Luke?” He asks me. “Water? Tea?”

I shake my head.

“What about you Sarah?”

“Sarah Jane. And water would be lovely. Thank you.” She answers. Didn’t she just have water out there while we waited? I guess it doesn’t matter.

He puts the water on the table in front of her and sits down in the chair. He then picks up the clipboard and a pen. He starts writing something. What is he writing? I look over at the things on the walls—awards—which had his name on them. _Raymond Charles_. He had quite a few of them. Did that mean he was good? Maybe. But that didn’t mean I would like him.

He puts his pen down.

What’s he going to say? Is he going to make me do anything? What is going to want me to say?

I feel Sarah Jane touch my shoulder. I flinch at first as I wasn’t expecting it. She then after a moment rubs my back a little which makes me feel less tense.

It’s comforting having her in here with me.

_She is comforting._

“I’m Dr. Charles. But you can me Raymond if you’d like.” He starts out and I notice firstly his American accent. I wasn’t expecting that. I look up at him and he had short brown hair and he didn’t look very—intimidating. But I don’t know him. I don’t know him at all so as far as I knew he could be an asshole. George and Silvia seemed like nice people when I first met them, so I knew one thing for sure: first impressions aren’t everything.

“Okay.” I say. If I had to say something, then that’s what I’ll say.

“So what are some of your favorite things to do?” He asks me.

“What?” I ask. Why was he asking me that? What did that have to do with me being here? I mean, I don’t mind it—it’s actually better than what I thought he was going to ask.

“I like to start by getting to know my clients better.” He explains. “So what are your favorite things to do?”

I had to think for a minute before I answered.

“I like to read and I like to do things with my friends.” I tell him.

“I like reading myself. What are your favorites?” He asks.

Besides my school textbooks, I read whatever Sarah Jane had on her bookshelves in either the living room or the attic.

“ _Harry Potter_ , _Great Expectations_ , and _To Kill A Mockingbird_.” I say. Those were a few of my favorites. Sarah Jane had all the Harry Potter books and I had read two so far. I really enjoyed them. While I told him, I noticed he seemed surprised at my last two picks.

“I read _To Kill A Mockingbird_ for school when I was younger. That’s a nice read.” He replies. “Did you read it for school?” He asks and I shake my head. “For fun?” I nodded my head. It looked like an interesting book and it was.

“What are your friend’s names?” He asks.

“Maria, Jessie, and Clyde.” I answer.

“What kind of things do you like to do with your friends?”

“We talk, play games, and watch films.” I say, mostly getting things from what we did at the sleepover. That was really fun.

“What kind of films do you like?”

“I like _Star Wars_.”

“I don’t blame you, it’s good.” He comments. “I’m going to take a guess and say your favorite is Luke?” He asks and I nod. I knew why he thought that, but it wasn’t because he had my name. I just liked him.

“Now, how have you been liking living with Sarah Jane?” He asks. I guess he knew that she is fostering me. She probably told him when she scheduled this session thing. I glanced at her before looking back at him.

“I love it.” I say as I lean into her. I feel her wrap an arm around me which makes me feel a bit happier. I always like her hugs. I don’t ever want to live anywhere else, but I couldn’t help if someday she changes her mind. She says she won’t, but she won’t know that for sure right now. Her mind could easily change in a few weeks or something.

“How are you two getting along?” He asks.

“Good.” I say and ponder on whether I should say this other part. “I love her.” I say aloud as I glance up at her. Was that an okay thing to say? I feel her hand being placed on the side of my head before I feel her kiss the other side.

“I love you too.” She whispers and I let a small smile appear on my face; I’m glad she’s here with me.

“So how is school going for you?” He asks and the smile quickly fades. I don’t want to talk about school. I don’t like school. I get hurt there. People are mean—not my friends but other people—and they hurt me. I don’t say anything, I just sit there staring at my shoes.

“Do you like your teachers?” He tries a different question.

“Yes.”

“What are your favorite classes?”

“Science and History.”

“Are your friends in your classes?”

“Clyde’s in most. Jessie and Maria are only in a few of mine.” I explain.

“Is there anything you don’t like about school?” He asks and at first, I don’t move or say a word. But eventually—after a few moments—I do.

“Yes.”

“Can you tell me about that? What you don’t like about school?” He asks and I shake my head. I don’t want to talk about it.

The room stayed silent for a little while. It felt like a long time, but I don’t know if it actually was very long. It can seem like an hour when it really has only been minutes that have passed. I glance at the clock on the ceiling by the door—it hasn’t been long. Five minutes of silence maybe?

“Luke, I want to ask you some questions. You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to just yet, but I’d like it if you could. Alright?” I nodded. However, I had a feeling that I wasn’t going to like any of these questions. It sounded like we were moving away from the nice and simple questions.

“What brings you here?” He asks.

“She did.”

“Why are you here?” He rephrases.

I think for a few moments. How do I answer that? It takes me a second before I think of an answer.

“Because she thinks I need to talk to someone.” I say. It was honest. That is why I am here. Sarah Jane says I need to talk to someone, though I am still not very fond of the idea. Though he seems nice, it might be only because she is with me. Plus, I don’t even know him that well; he’s still a stranger to me.

“What about?”

“What happened to me.”

“Can you tell me what happened to you?” He asks and I quickly shake my head—I wasn’t ready. I can’t tell him. I barely want Sarah Jane to know all about that stuff, let alone this guy whom was still basically a stranger..

“Okay does it have to do with someone?”

“Yes. Some people.” I add, as it wasn’t just _one_ person. It was a combination of people.

“How did those people make you feel?”

“Scared. Sad. Hurt.” I say.

“Can you tell me how they hurt you?” He asks again and I sit motionless for a moment before shaking my head.

“I _can’t_.”

I started to cry. I don’t want to talk about it. If I talk about it, I’ll remember it and I don’t want to remember more than I already do. I don’t even know him. What if he thinks I’m—a _freak_ or something? He probably won’t understand. I don’t want him to know. I don’t want to talk about this. _Not with him_.

“Shhhh, Luke.” Sarah Jane sooths by rubbing my back.

“I can’t mummy. I can’t.” I tremble. I knew she wanted me to try, but I couldn’t do it. I don’t trust him.

“It’s okay Luke. You don’t have to tell me anything if you don’t want to.” I hear him say as Sarah Jane pulls me closer.

“It’s okay, Luke.” I say.

“I’m s-sorry—“

“No, it’s okay.” Sarah Jane says. “It’s okay if you’re not ready.”

I didn’t say anything after that. I just laid there in Sarah Jane’s arms as she tried to calm me down. Eventually I did and I still just laid there. I didn’t want to talk anymore. Not about anything—but especially not about _those things_. I knew they wanted me to, but I just can’t. I don’t trust him. I don’t know him. He won’t understand what it’s like for me.

Then eventually he lets me go. I guess the session was over and frankly, I was relieved. I didn’t want to stay here any longer.

“It was nice to meet you Luke.” He says and holds his hand out to me. I shake it and then he shakes Sarah Jane’s. They talk for a moment. I didn’t listen to what but it probably was about when they wanted me to come back again. I hope it’s not too soon—or actually, rather at all. I don’t trust him and I know eventually he’ll force me to talk.

I don’t want that.

“Come on Luke.” Sarah Jane says and leads me out to the parking lot. “I know it’s hard, but thank you for trying.”

“I don’t trust him.” I admit.

“It’ll just take time, honey.” Sarah Jane rubs my shoulder and then she starts the car. “Is there anything you’d like to do?” I thought about it as I took my mobile out of my pocket. I then saw a text from Jessie.

[Let me know if you want to hang out or talk ;) –J]

I grinned a bit.

“Can I go over to Jessie’s?” I ask.


	12. Jessie's House

**Disclaimer: I do not own Sarah Jane Adventures. I only own my OCs and plot.**

* * *

Luke’s POV

[Is it okay if I come over? –L]

I texted her and I received a reply moments later.

[Yeah. I’m free :) –J]

“Can I go over to Jessie’s?” I asked, looking up at her as she pulled out of the parking lot.

“That’s fine. Where does she live?” Sarah Jane asks me.

“On our street. House number 30.” I tell her.

“Alright. I can drop you off.” Sarah Jane tells me and within twenty minutes we were outside her house. I texted her that I was outside. I knew some people did that to give them a heads up. “Have fun. Be home by seven alright?” I look up at Sarah Jane and nod. I get out of the car and I watch as the car slowly moves until it is on her driveway.

I turned to the house and walked up the stairs. I got to the second to last step when the door opened and Jessie came out. She gave me a hug. It felt nice, though I wasn’t expecting that.

“Come on.” Jessie says and leads me inside. I look around the house. It seemed very clean and organized like Sarah Jane’s. There was a cabinet with breakables and then across from it were couches. They were white and in front of it was a coffee table, with multiple coasters on it.

“Nice home.” I say, awkwardly. I felt sort of—odd, being here. I had never been here before, so I didn’t know what to expect or why I thought I should come over here.

“Yeah. My mum likes to be very clean.” Jessie laughs a bit.

“Are you talking to someone Jess?!” I hear a woman call from another room. Why did the voice sound so familiar?

“Just a friend mum!” Jessie calls back.

“Which friend—“ I looked to see a woman with short dark hair come out of the kitchen with a small rag in her hand. Emily? “Oh hello Luke.” She then says with a smile. I grin for a second before glancing at Jessie. Wait, my social worker is her mum?

Jessie looked between us. I assumed she was going to ask, but she didn’t.

“We’re going to go upstairs.” Jessie says.

“Wouldn’t rather—“

“Mum. We’re just talking.” Jessie says. What did she think we were going to do?

“Alright. _Shout_ if you need me.” Emily says and then goes back to the kitchen.

Jessie then takes me upstairs and we sit down on the floor of her bedroom.

“Sorry about her.”

“What did she think we were gonna do?” I ask.

“Are you serious? You’re a boy and we’re in my bedroom—“ I still didn’t understand what that meant. “—it doesn’t matter. She just worries.”

“I didn’t know she was your mum.”

“Do you know her?” Jessie asks.

I nodded.

“She’s my social worker.”

Jessie nods. I guess she would know about her mum’s job, but I don’t know what she would think about being friends with one of her mother’s cases. I liked Emily—well I didn’t her that much. I mean she was nice to me, but she had taken me away from Sarah Jane and made me live with George and Silvia. I didn’t like that. And I didn’t really like the look she gave me when Jessie said we were going upstairs. The look—I could still imagine that glare—was one I didn’t like. It almost gave me chills. It was like she didn’t like me—or something. I’m not sure what it was about, but I don’t like it.

“Why did she look at me like that?” I ask.

“Like I said, you’re a boy and in you’re in my bedroom.” Jessie says. I still didn’t understand what that meant. What did she think we were going to do? Did she think I would do something wrong if I wasn’t being watched?

“Does she not like me?”

“It’s nothing to do with you _personally_ , it’s just—my mum worries.”

“Why?”

“Because that’s what parents do. Doesn’t your mum worry about you?”

I nodded.

Sarah Jane worried about me a lot. That’s apparently why she’s making me go to this therapist. I just don’t really like it. I don’t want to talk to him about that stuff. It’s not like he’ll know what it’s like for me. He probably hasn’t been through anything similar.

If only I could not go back.

“So how was therapy?” Jessie asks and I shrug.

“Alright I guess.” I reply. “I don’t really like it.”

“Yeah, I didn’t really like it either in the beginning. And one-on-one therapy isn’t my favorite, but it gets easier after a while.” Jessie says. I grin a bit. At least she understood, in a way or another, that I don’t like it. I’m glad I’m not the only one.

“How long have you been in therapy?” I ask.

“A year. I think after a couple more sessions, you might _hate_ it less.”

I couldn’t help but wonder what Jessie was going to therapy for. But I wasn’t going to ask. It’s none of my business and besides, her reason for going probably isn’t the same reason I have to go.

“Aren’t you going to ask?” I look up at Jessie.

“What?” I ask.

“Aren’t you going to ask why I’m in therapy?” Jessie explains better.

“Do you want me to?” I ask. I didn’t think she would want people to ask about that. I didn’t really want people to know about that. I’m still feeling strange about Jessie knowing, even though she goes to therapy too.

“Not usually. But when people find out your in therapy, they usually ask why.” Jessie answer. I knew people could get curious and ask a lot of questions. But I wouldn’t want people asking to hear about why I went so I wasn’t going to ask Jessie, even if I was curious myself.

“I mean, it’s none of my business. I don’t want to pry.” I say.

“Why can’t people be more like you? You don’t know how many people I have gotten asking me about it as soon as they learn I see a therapist.” Jessie says with a slight chuckle at the end. I let a small smile show.

“I guess I know what it’s like.”

Jessie smiles.

“Well you are one person I wouldn’t mind talking about it to. As long as you don’t tell anybody.” Jessie tells me and I look up again in surprise. Was she saying she wanted to tell me? Did she know I was curious anyways? Did she trust me? Why?

“Why would I tell anyone?” I ask as that part confused me.

“That’s just my way of saying, _if I tell you, don’t tell anyone_.” Jessie clears up.

“I won’t.” I promised. I wouldn’t tell anyone. It wouldn’t be my place tell anyone if I knew.

“Alright, well a year ago I had this boyfriend and he had this temper.” Jessie starts off then pulls up her sweatshirt a bit, so I could see some bruising and cuts on her back. “He would get angry—whenever I said or did something he didn’t like. He would hurt me.” Jessie says and pulls her sweatshirt back down so her back was covered. “I always thought about leaving him, but then he’d go and do something nice. Or I’d tell myself I deserved it. But then I went to his house one night. He wanted to do things. I said no—that I didn’t want to…” I didn’t really like where she was going with this. “…he didn’t like that. He forced me—he _raped_ me.” Jessie says, with her voice sounding shaky.

I was hoping she wouldn’t say that. I was hoping that did happen. I didn’t like hearing that someone hurt her. I looked at Jessie, whom was not looking directly at me, and I could tell she was starting to cry. I moved closer and wrapped my arms around her.

Hugs always help.

“Thanks.” Jessie sniffles. “Sorry—I mean it’s not like I haven’t told people before.”

“I get it. It’s never easy to think about. It’s like reliving it all over again.” I say. I knew the exact feeling. It was like when Sarah Jane wanted me to talk about my nightmares.

Jessie nods before sitting up, but I don’t shuffle away.

“Do Maria or Clyde know?” I ask, because Jessie said she had told people before. I wonder if they knew.

Jessie shakes her head.

“No. They weren’t even in town when it happened. Maria and Clyde only moved here less than a year ago. And though Maria’s one of my best friends—I just never felt like I could talk to her about it.” Jessie says. That confused me a bit. She’s known me for what? Two months? She’s known Maria for longer and just felt comfortable with telling me but not her.

“You told me.”

“Yeah, but—I don’t know. I just feel like—“

“I’d understand in a way?”

“That and your very easy to talk to.” Jessie laughs a bit. “You don’t judge. You’re nice and—well like I said, I wish there were more people like you Luke.”

“I know what it’s like to be hurt by people whom were apparently supposed to love you.” I say after a moment.

“Was it your foster parents?” Jessie asks and I nod. But then I give her look, how did she know that?

“How did you—“

“My mum’s your social worker so I know you’re a foster kid. I just kind of took a guess.” Jessie explains. “I know it happens.” I guess it wasn’t that hard to figure out in a way. “Do you ever talk to anyone about it?”

“My mum and well—after that video, I think Clyde, Maria, and everyone else at school will know about it.” I say with a sigh. I just realized even with Archie gone for another week, people might say stuff because of that video. I guess school won’t really change. I’ll still be the freak walking down the halls.

Jessie takes my hand in hers. A small smile appears on my face as I look up at hers. This felt nice. Then she wrapped an arm around me into some sort of hug. It was nice. It felt different than when Sarah Jane hugs me, but it was still nice.

“Would you like to stay for dinner?” Jessie then asks me after a while.

“Sure. I think that’ll be okay.” I say. Sarah Jane said I had to be home at seven, so I’m sure she wouldn’t mind as long as they didn’t mind. “If you’re mum’s okay with it.”

“Don’t mind her. But now that you know what happened to me—you can see why she’s so protective and worried when boys come over.” Jessie says and I nodded. I understood now. She definitely had a right to be worried, though I would never hurt Jessie. Especially like that.

“I wouldn’t hurt you.”

“I know you won’t, but she worries.” Jessie says.

“So who else knows about—what happened to you?” I asked, curious to who else knows. Jessie said other people knew besides me. I wondered who it could be if it wasn’t Clyde or Maria.

“My mum and the kids that are in my therapy group.” Jessie tells me.

“Group?” I questioned. I thought she went to therapy alone and there weren’t any other people there.

“Yeah. Once I week I have the private session, but on Monday and Wednesday nights I have group therapy. A bunch of us whom have gone through similar things get together and talk. We talk and share. It actually helped me more than the private sessions.” Jessie explains. I guess that seemed alright. At least they could somewhat understand what you were going through.

“Would you like to come?” Jessie then asks.

“What?” I ask, in shock. Did I hear her right?

“I have a session tonight at six. Would you like to come?” Jessie repeats the question. “You might like it and it’d be nice to take a friend with me.”

I wasn’t really sure I wanted to. I didn’t know these people and though it sounded better than talking about my problems with the therapist whom I knew most likely doesn’t understand what I’m going through. But they are still strangers. They probably won’t have it like I have. I don’t know if I like that idea.

“You don’t have to talk if you don’t want to. You can just come with me for moral support.” Jessie adds and I nodded.

I guess that sounded okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know your thoughts so far. 
> 
> The portrayers for the OCs are as the following: Jessie is portrayed by Abby Mavers, Archie is portrayed by Freddie Highmore, Emily is portrayed by Heather Peace, David is portrayed by Keiynan Lonsdale, Becca is portrayed by Miranda Cosgrove, Mister Clarke is portrayed by Mark Benton, Silvia is portrayed by Susan Boyle, George is portrayed by Scott Adkins, Raymond Charles is portrayed by Matt Damon, Felix is portrayed by Joe Maw, and Evie will be portrayed by Mia McKenna-Bruce.


	13. Blast From the Past

**Disclaimer: I do not own Sarah Jane Adventures. I only own my OCs and the plot. Everything you may recognize belongs to CBBC and Russell T. Davies.**

* * *

Luke's POV

It has been a few weeks since I started going to this support group with Jessie. I didn't expect it to help but it did. I hadn't talked yet. I just listened to everybody else talk. Jessie said that hearing other people talk about their experiences can help. I honestly didn't think it would; but it did. It was interesting to see all these people that were around mine and Jessie's ages having these stories that we could all relate to in a way. It was kind of strange, but almost in a good way. Jessie was right; it helped me not feel completely alone.

I went with Jessie on a Thursday afternoon. This was my eighth time coming and though I hadn't talked about my past or anything yet, everyone seemed to know me. And they were really nice and welcoming.

There was Kevin: He was about fourteen and his step-mum had been hurting him for months until she managed to put him in the hospital. After he admitted to his dad what was going on, he divorced her and they moved up here to Ealing. Then there was Rosie: She was ten. Her mum died when she was six and her dad started raping her months after; she now lives with her grandmother. And then there was Evie: She's twelve. She went into care after her parents died. She got separated from her brother and was picked on in her previous foster home; she was there for four months. But now she's living with a good set of foster parents.

"So Evie, how has the new foster placement been?" Mister Charles asked. "It's been about a week since you were moved?"

"Yes," Evie answered. "They're really nice and I like being back with my brother." She sounded happy. "It's been an adjustment, but a good one. I don't have to worry about the place not being spotless and they don't get angry. They've been amazing."

"Well, that's great to hear. And we'd all love to meet your brother eventually."

"I asked him to come and Fee said he will," I looked around, not noticing any unfamiliar faces. It didn't look like he was here. "Soon." I wonder if he will come next time. He sounded nice.

"I am really glad things are looking up for you, Evie." Mister Charles turned from Evie to the rest of us. "All of you have had things to overcome and I'm proud to hear and help you through your journeys." I looked down for a moment, biting my lip. That didn't include me. I hadn't said a word. He may know some things from the private session mum took me to, but I barely spoke because I hadn't felt ready. Everybody else here knew each other's stories except mine. It was weird knowing so much about these people when they didn't know the next thing about me; maybe it was time to change that.

"Would anyone want to speak next?" I raised my hand, much to everyone's surprise, I could imagine. "Luke? Alright then." He looked between everyone. "I believe you all are acquainted with Luke. A mate of Jessie."

"Everyone here's been very nice, even though I never wanted to talk."

"You don't have to feel rushed to talk." Mister Charles said. "Only when you're ready. No matter when that is, we're here to support to you."

"I didn't talk for months." Rosie chimed in.

I nodded and then looked over at Jessie, feeling her take my hand. "I think I'm ready." I gave her hand a squeeze and took a deep breath. "I've been living here for a few months so far and it's been amazing. My foster mum, Sarah Jane, is the best. But I've been struggling," I cleared my throat as I felt it go dryer as I continued. "I was in this foster home—with this couple for a few months and they hurt me." My voice went quieter. "I have nightmares and I know my mum—Sarah Jane—wants me to talk about them but I don't know how." I knew she wanted to help but I didn't want her to know more of what they did. I was worried about what she would think. "She says she wants to help, but I don't know how talking about it will."

"Well—" Mister Charles was interrupted by Kevin.

"Sorry, but may I?" Kevin and then he continued once Mister Charles gave him the okay. "Well, I don't know what happened, but I do know once I started telling my dad what my step-mum did to me, it was like this weight had been lifted." He explained and I nodded as it was making sense. "I felt like I was able to breathe."

"And what did your dad do?" I was curious to get an idea.

"Well, I don't know what your mum is like or what she will do," I knew that. "But he was there. He listened and held me." I knew my mum did that anyways, with the few things I have told her so far. "He made sure to keep me safe and he takes care of me." And that was what she did too. "He can be a bit overbearing at times now," Everyone laughed at that addition. "But anyways, just telling him, even with it being hard, it made me feel better in the end. It might help you get closure."

"Thank you, Kevin," Mister Charles turned from Kevin to me and he put his hands in his lap. "Did that help Luke?"

"I think so." I nodded.

The group therapy session ended shortly after that and both Jessie and I decided to walk home together. It was only a few miles and it gave us some time to talk alone. It was nice. I liked talking to her because it felt so easy.

"I was surprised to hear you talk today," Jessie admitted. "But I'm glad." I am too. I don't know if I will bring this up to mum yet, but maybe soon. "Kevin was right though," She took my hand again. "Sometimes, it helps just to get things off your chest. And once I told my mum what happened, I was able to get it all out and," She wiped her eyes as tears formed.

"Are you okay?" I was worried.

"Yeah," Jessie nodded. "Crying isn't a bad thing you know." She cleared her throat and then stopped, pulling me so I was standing in front of her. "It helps get feelings out. And if you tell your mum, maybe you can have a good cry and feel a bit better." I nodded, understanding what she was saying. "But only if you're ready."

"I will." I knew would, but not tonight. "Soon."

"Well you better get home," I realized then that we were standing outside Jessie's and I noticed her mum looking at us from the window. "See you tomorrow?"

"Yeah, bye!" I waved as she went up the stairs and inside.

* * *

The next day, I walked to school with Maria and Jessie caught up with us at some point on the way. Jessie started off by asking if I talked to my mum but I told her I didn't. I wondered if she was disappointed in me that I hadn't talked to her yet. It seemed like she was but I wasn't sure.

"Are you mad, I didn't talk to her?"

"What?" She seemed surprised I was asking. "Of course not."

"It seemed like you were."

"Well, I'm not." I guess I was wrong. But I was fine with being wrong this time. "You tell her when you're ready."

"What are you two talking about?" Maria chimed in. "Tell Sarah Jane what?"

"Nothing," Jessie said and I nodded. "Just something Luke and I talked about." I was glad that we could manage to keep this stuff between the two of us. I knew there would be too much to explain to Maria if we were to tell her. And I knew there was stuff that Jessie didn't want to talk about.

"What are we talking about?" Then suddenly Clyde came in between the three of us, putting one arm around me and the other on Jessie. "About the love birds?" He looked at me and then Jessie. Was he talking about us?

"Bug off Clyde!" Maria shoved him and he started walking backwards, still facing us.

"Can't you see the chemistry between them?"

"Well, I think know why he is failing chemistry." Jessie responded and both she and Maria started to laugh.

"Good one, Jess."

"Yeah, yeah," Clyde rolled his eyes. "You laugh now, but I'm saying! Just you wait." I didn't understand what he was talking about but I didn't think to ask as we got to the courtyard of school and then I noticed someone. I just stared over there for a moment, unable to believe it. _No, he couldn't be here, could he?_ I rubbed my eyes and then he looked directly at me.

"Luke?" I heard both Maria and Jessie's voices trying to get my attention, but I just looked at him. I couldn't stop; it was like I was frozen. I just can't believe he was here.

"Lukey boy?"

And just when I thought things might be okay; another thing I would be wrong about.

…

_I was back at the children's home. It was before they had placed me with George and Silvia. Living with them was a thousand times worse but the children's home wasn't much better. I didn't talk to any of the other kids. They didn't seem to like me. I tried once talking about Sarah Jane and they seemed annoyed at me. Just like the one care worker when I asked to use the phone to call Sarah Jane when I was there. I don't know why nobody wanted me to talk about her; she was nice._

_I was doing the required chores I had to do. I had to mop the floor. I was about half-way done with the kitchen when Felix came running in from outside and then he slipped on the wet floor. The boys following behind him started laughing once he fell. I didn't understand why that was funny._

_"Are you alright?" I asked as I tried to help him up._

_"You!" Once he realized it was me, he looked really angry. "Of course, you would do this."_

_"I'm doing my job." If I didn't do my jobs, I would get in trouble. And I didn't want to get in trouble._

_"Looks like you have more to do now." Felix commented on the muddy foot prints he tracked in from the garden. I guess he was right. "You better get to it!"_

_"I don't think so." One of our care workers came into the room._

_"It's alright, I can clean it up."_

_"No, Luke, since Felix made this mess, he can clean it up." She said with her arms crossed._

_"No, really!" I didn't want Felix to have to do this. It was my job in the first place and I knew if he ended up having to do it, I would be in for it later. "It won't take me long."_

_"What did I just say?" I flinched as her tone changed. "Go on, Luke. You have other chores, don't you?" I nodded, keeping my head down after Felix grabbed the mop out of my hand. I went to go vacuum the hallways and I finished that rather quickly. Then I went into my room, anxiously awaiting for Felix to finish cleaning up. I knew he would be coming for me when he was finished._

_A few hours past and he didn't come. I decided to go outside. I figured if I managed to get outside, it would be easier to hide from him. I didn't see him in the kitchen or outside, so I went to my usual spot behind the big tree. I sat down, thinking I was going to be safe here for a while; but I was wrong again._

_Not even a few seconds later, Felix and two other boys were in front of me. The other two boys grabbed me so I couldn't try to get up and leave. I struggled against them but gave up quickly and just looked up at Felix. He crouched down, smirking._

_"Can you believe he made me do his chores?"_

_"I didn't make you," I had wanted to do it. But they didn't let me. "The care worker did."_

_"Do you guys think it is fair that I have to do all my jobs and his?!" I watched as the two boys that had me, shake their heads._

_"I'm sorry." I knew it wasn't my fault. But I apologized, hoping that would make things better. I was afraid of what they were going to do. I knew it was going to be worse than the usual beatings Felix gave me for his fun._

_"Do you know how much I hate cleaning?" He asked and then he threw two bottles of water onto the ground next to him. "Better hold your breath!" He grabbed my hair and then slowly poured the water over my face, making it hard for me to breathe. I started coughing once he stopped briefly to pick up the other bottle and then he did it again. The other boys eventually let go and then Felix pushed me over and as I choked on some of the water._

_"That better not happen again." Felix whispered before kicking me in the stomach before walking off. And that was just one of the many things he did to me while we both lived in the same care home._

_…_

"Luke!?" I could barely hear Jessie's voice; it sounded like an echo. All I could see was Felix right in front of me and I felt my chest get tight and I couldn't breathe. My eyes went blurry as the tears built up. I wanted to run but I couldn't get my legs to work aside form feeling them shake. "Come on," I felt an arm on my shoulder and I was being pulled away from that spot. "Let's get you home."

As I was moved away and I could no longer see Felix, the tears fell down my cheeks.

* * *

I had calmed down a little bit by the time Jessie, Maria and Clyde had gotten me home. I knew mum was worried and I felt bad for scaring her and my friends. Now I was sitting in the living room and mum had made some tea. Maria and Clyde had left to get to class, but Jessie insisted on staying.

"It's okay," Jessie insisted. "I can miss one class."

"I don't think your mother would agree." Mum pointed out. "I've got this Jessie. You can come back after school." Jessie turned to me. She still seemed unsure about leaving me. If I was being honest, I didn't really want her to leave, but I didn't want her to get in trouble at home.

"I'll be fine."

"Alright," Jessie stood and picked up her backpack from the floor. "I'll see you later." And then she left and I took one of the cups of tea from the tray in front of me.

"Are you feeling better?" Mum asked after I had some tea.

"Do I have to go back to school?" I was scared she was going to make me go back like she did with Maria, Clyde, and Jessie. I didn't want to go back, not ever again if Felix was going to be there. I'm sure he would pick on me like Archie and David do.

"Not right now," Mum answered, but that didn't make me feel much better. That meant she would make me go back sometime and I didn't want to. "Can you tell me what happened?"

"Nothing really happened at school."

"Well something upset you and I want to know what that is." Mum sat next to me and wrapped an arm around me, bringing me closer.

"Before I was fostered, I lived in this group home," I knew I would have to go back to beginning. "There was this other boy, Felix. He picked on me a lot."

"How often?"

"Every day I was there," I admitted. "It depended on the day how bad it was." I gave the gist of what happened, not really wanting to go into specifics. And she didn't push for more details. "I saw him at school today." He must have just started. But why was he going here now? Why did he have to go to the same school I did? "Please don't make me go back."

"Luke—"

"Please mum," I begged. "I'll do anything, but please don't make me go back."

"Luke, we can figure something out." Mum seemed confident she could figure something out, but I couldn't believe that. "I mean, you've settled in and you have friends at this school."

"I don't care." I could see my friends outside of school and still go somewhere else. Maybe it would be better that way. "Please, don't make me go."

"Okay, you don't have to go back today," I knew that meant she wanted me to go back another day, but I would settle for now. "How about we relax and we can talk about this a little later, after lunch?" I nodded as I took another sip of my tea, finishing it. I think she hoped if I calmed down a bit, I would change my mind. But I don't think I was going to change my mind. I knew Felix and I knew what he would do now that he knew I went there too.

After the tea, mum went upstairs to do some work while I stayed downstairs and read a book. I finished it around the time when mum came back downstairs asking what I wanted for lunch. I didn't even realize how late it was.

"Is it lunch-time already?" I asked.

Mum nodded. "I could order some pizza or go get some fish and chips. Anything you want." I didn't really care what we had. "I figure we can eat and talk about going back to school."

"Why?" I didn't want to talk about it. "I don't want to go back."

"I know, but Luke—"

"I don't want to go, mum." I wasn't going to change my mind. I thought school was hard before, but even with Maria, Clyde, and Jessie around, I knew they couldn't protect me all the time. And not from both Archie and Felix.

"I know, but I can talk to people at the school—"

"That won't help—" I was cut off as there was a knock on the door. "Who's that?" I didn't think mum ordered anything yet. But even if she did, I knew it couldn't be that fast.

"I don't know."

I followed her as she went to answer and I blanched seeing who was at the front door and I hid behind mum. "Can I help you?"

"I was told this is where Luke lives," And now he knows where I live. That makes it even worse. "Can I talk to him?"

"Mum," I whispered and she looked over at me as I shook my head. "No."

"I'm sorry, but—"

"I'm sure he's told you all about me," Of course I would have told her after seeing him at school. Why wouldn't I? "But really, I need to talk to him."

"Why?" Mum asked.

"To apologize."

"Apologize?" I stepped out from behind mum and looked at him as if he just said he was an alien. I honestly couldn't believe what I just heard.

"Hi Luke," His voice sounded awkward. "It's been a while hasn't it?" He chuckled slightly. "Look, I know how you must feel to see me—well I could tell after you saw me this morning at school." He cleared his throat and rubbed his hands together. Why did he seem nervous? "Look, what I want to say is that I'm really sorry for what I did back in that care home."

"You're sorry?" I couldn't believe it. "Is this a bluff?"

"No, I feel horrible for how I treated you."

"Yeah, me too."

"Listen, I was going through a really bad time back then," Felix attempted to explain. "My parents had died in a car accident and then suddenly I was living with a bunch of strangers and nosy kids. And they had separated me from my little sister—she got fostered and her foster parents wouldn't let me see her."

"I'm sorry." I had to admit, that sounded horrible. And I knew what it was like to have bad foster parents. It wasn't fair they wouldn't let him see his sister.

"They were horrible to her and I was angry at the world for everything—so I took it out on you."

"And that makes it alright?" I had never seen mum look so angry before.

"No, it doesn't," Felix didn't look mum in the eye. "But anyways, I am living with my sister and some new foster parents down the road. They are really great and I would really like if you would come over for dinner some time. I want to make it up to you and prove how sorry I am."

"I don't know." I was reluctant to even think about doing anything that involved him.

"Please just think about it?" Felix pleaded. "I'm already going to get a serious talking to about blowing off Physics."

"You skipped a class to come to talk to me?"

"Yeah," Felix nodded. "I mean it, with the apology. And I figure we might get a chance to talk more over dinner. And if you're worried about it being a trick, well my foster parents and my sister will be there." I guess it would be hard to hurt me with adults there. He definitely had thought of everything. I would give him credit for that. "So will you?"

"Can I bring a friend with me?" If I was going to consider giving him a chance, I needed to bring backup. Hopefully Jessie is up for it.


	14. Facing Demons

**Disclaimer: I do not own Sarah Jane Adventures or any of its characters. I only my OCs and plot.**

* * *

Luke's POV

_I opened my eyes and I was in a room, sitting at a table. I didn't recognize it. I looked in front of me and there were placements set for four other people. Most of the placements were empty, aside for the one directly across from me. I looked up and sitting there was Felix. He looked up at me and smiled devilishly. And then suddenly, I wasn't sitting at a dinner table anymore. I was outside, under a giant tree. The grass was long and it made my legs itch as it moved slightly across my skin in the breeze._

_"Hold him!" Suddenly I was grabbed, pinned with my arms behind my back. Then Felix kicked me in the stomach three times and delivered a final blow to my jaw. I was let go and went face down in the dirt. Not even a moment later, I was picked up by Felix grabbed and pulling my hair. "Did you really I think I changed?"_

"No!" I woke up, screaming. I was panting and I felt sweat on forehead. I put my hand to my chest, attempting to calm myself down, realizing it was only a dream.

"Luke?" I heard mum's voice. "Are you alright?" She asked as she came into my bedroom and sat down next to me on the edge of my bed.

"Yeah," I nodded as I gripped a bundle of sheets in my hands. "It was just a nightmare."

"Was it about Felix?"

I nodded slowly. "Yeah." I hope she didn't want me to tell her about it.

"You don't have to go tomorrow," Mum reminded me. I knew I didn't have to, but I felt like I did. I needed to find out if he was serious about being different. If I didn't, I knew I would be scared all the time at school. "But it's your choice."

"I'll be alright, mum." I could tell she was worried. "Jessie will be with me." I talked to Jessie once she got out of the school the same day Felix gave me the invite. I explained everything and then she agreed to go to the dinner with me. She also made it clear that she wouldn't have been so open to forgive him. Truly, I wasn't sure if I would be able to forgive him. But it was worth giving him a chance. And at least, if it goes well, I won't have to worry about him at school. It was already hard enough worrying about Archie and David.

"I know she'll look after you." Mum ran a hand through my hair and then placed a kiss on my forehead. "Are you going to go back to sleep or would you like me to stay a while?"

"Would you mind?"

"Not at all." Mum tucked me under the cover and then massaged my forehead. Eventually I managed to fall asleep.

* * *

"Did you sleep better?" Mum asked as I made myself some toast in the morning.

"Yeah." Mum had stayed for a bit and that made it easier for me to get back to sleep.

"That's good," He kissed me on the forehead. "Now, I need to tell you," she sat down across from me at the table as I spread some butter on the toast. "I have to go out of town for a few days."

"For work?" I figured it was since she would probably take me with her otherwise.

"Yes," Mum nodded. "So I made arrangements for you to stay over at Maria's."

"Okay." That sounded okay. "When will you be leaving?"

"I'll be leaving shortly this afternoon." I was surprised to hear that she was leaving that soon. I guess I better pack some things up to take over there before Jessie came over and we went to Felix's. "How long will you be gone?"

"I'll be back Monday evening, by the time you get home from school." Mum put a hand on top of one of mine. "I'll keep my cell on in case you need to call me."

"I'll be fine." I didn't want to have to worry about me while she is working. "I guess I should go pack." I stood after I finished with my breakfast and then headed upstairs.

"You shouldn't need too much!" I heard mum shout as I headed up the stairs.

I would only pack a few things—mostly clothes and then had me take it over to Maria's house as she loaded up her car with the things she was going to need for work. Maria led me up to the guest room while her dad was doing some stuff on the computer. "You can make yourself comfortable."

"Thanks Maria." I put my bag on the chair. I figured I could unpack later. I knew I probably should get ready for the dinner. Jessie would probably be coming around soon.

"What are you getting all dressed up for?" Maria commented once I put on a buttoned shirt and dark pants.

"I'm going to a dinner," I wasn't sure what I should call Felix. I knew he wasn't a friend. "With this guy I know from care." I figured that was the best way to describe him. That was how I met him. "Jessie's coming with me."

"You and Jess are going together?"

"Yeah," Maria made it sound like it was a big deal. I didn't see how it was. "Why?"

"It isn't a date, is it?"

"What's a date?" I knew she couldn't be talking about today's specific date. She had to be talking about something else but I didn't understand.

"Nevermind," Maria shook her head. "I guess not."

"But what is a date?" I was still curious.

"It's when you go out with someone you like." Maria explained.

"I like Jessie," We were all friends. "We're friends."

"When you like someone _more_ than a friend." Maria tried to clarify but now I felt even more confused than I was before. "Like I said, it doesn't matter. This doesn't really sound like a date. Just don't listen to Clyde if he makes more _love bird_ comments." Is that what he meant? Did he think Jessie and I fancied each other? I never really thought about that.

"Does Jessie think this is a date then?"

"You would have to ask her." Maria pointed out. "But I doubt it." I hoped she didn't think it was a date, because I didn't think it was. "Just forget about that stuff, alright?"

"But I can't forget." Did she not remember that I remember everything?

"It's an expression, Luke." Maria sighed. "Anyways, you look nice." Then I noticed Maria's expression change and I turned to face her.

"Is something wrong?"

"No," Maria shook her head. "It's just, there's nobody like you." That sounded a bit strange. "I'm really glad that Sarah Jane found you and we were able to be proper friends."

"Me too." I really liked Maria. It was nice having a group of friends.

"Luke, there's something I need to tell you—" Maria was interrupted by the doorbell ringing. I figured that must be Jessie. "Nevermind, we can talk when you get back." I nodded and then went to answer the door.

"Wow," I didn't know what to say. Jessie looked really nice. She was wearing a long pink dress that had flowers on it. Her hair was down, which was change since she usually had it up. "You look really nice."

"Just nice?" I blanched. Was there another word I should use instead? Did I make another mistake? "Relax, just winding you up." I took a breath. I was worried I had said something wrong. "You look nice too."

"Thanks."

"So why are you over at Maria's?" Jessie asked. She must be curious. "Getting fashion tips?"

"Mum went away for work. So I am staying here until she gets back."

"Sounds fun. Are you ready to go?"

"As ready as I'll ever be."

* * *

The walk to Felix's house wasn't very far. It was true that he only lived two streets down from me. As we approached, I found the pain in stomach increasing. Jessie seemed to notice because once we were standing in front of his flat, I felt her take my hand.

"You're going to be alright." Jessie tried to reassure me.

"Yeah," I nodded, though I couldn't shake the nerves. I was about to meet the new family of the kid that terrorized me until I went to live some place worse. It was hard not be nervous as far as he was concerned. "Thanks for coming with me."

"Of course," Jessie smiled slightly. "Ready to go in? Or do you need another minute."

"I'm ready." It was now or never. We walked up the steps and then rang the doorbell. I felt Jessie subtly squeeze my hand as we waited for the door to be answered. When Felix came to the door, Jessie let go and I followed her inside.

"I'm really glad you could come, Luke." Felix smiled. I could tell he was nervous, but he was trying to cover that up with the extra enthusiasm. "You must be his friend…"

" _Jessie_." She told him. I had never told him the name of the friend I was bringing.

"Nice to meet you." Jessie took his hand and shook it, trying to be polite. She knew what Felix had done to me in the past, so she was keeping a guard up with him, while also being nice.

"This is a nice place." I commented, looking around. It was very clean and it seemed very comfortable. There were some shelves with figures and the walls were panted a light green color. Both Jessie and I followed Felix into the other room, we a couch and there was an older man sitting on it with a cup of tea. He looked up when we came into the room and stood up. "That's my foster dad, Justin."

"Hello," His foster father shook my hand. "You must be Luke." I nodded, feeling taken aback. "It's nice to finally put a name to the face. Felix has been looking forward to this."

"Alright, enough." Felix bit his lip.

"Sorry, didn't mean to embarrass you." Justin patted Felix on the shoulder and put an arm around him. "You're the first friend Felix has brought over." _Friend?_ I found it interesting that Felix told them that I was a friend. "And who's this?" Justin noticed Jessie.

"Luke brought a friend," Felix told him. "I told you he was."

"I'm Jessie."

"Well, make yourselves comfortable," He stood, making a place for the three of us to sit down on the couch. "Would you guys like some lemonade or anything?"

"I'm fine." I didn't want attempt anything yet with how my stomach was feeling.

"Not right now, thank you." Jessie sat next to me and then Felix sat across from me. He had waited until his foster father had left the room.

"He seems nice." I commented.

"Yeah, he is," Felix's voice sounded awkward. "So are you guys like…?"

"No." Jessie shook her head and I did as well. Based on what Maria had said earlier, I could gather what he was trying to ask. "He told he was bringing a friend."

"I know, I just was asking."

"Well you know, girls can have guy friends."

"I know," Felix looked scared as Jessie's tone sounded more aggressive. "Sorry."

The next few minutes were very uncomfortable. We sat there, looking at each other and without saying another word. I hadn't felt this uncomfortable in a while; it was a weird. And before I had the chance to say anything, his foster father came back out to tell us dinner was ready.

We went into the kitchen and then were greeted by his foster mother, Adelyn. "It's lovely to meet you Luke and Jessie," she smiled as she sat down at the table next to Felix. "I do hope you're alright with shepherd's pie."

"It's great."

"Where's your sister?" Justin asked Felix.

"Probably still napping," He answered. "I'll go get her."

"I'm sure Luke would like to meet her." Justin said as Felix headed up the stairs. "I'm sure he has talked about her—he never stopped talking about her before we managed to get her fostered here as well." I nodded. It felt like the right thing to do, though I didn't know he had a sister until yesterday. But there was good reason for that.

"Evie, this is Luke." I was surprised to see Evie, the girl from therapy.

"We've already met," Evie seemed just as surprised. "Jessie too."

"You two—you three know each other?" Felix asked.

"My therapy group. The one I've been trying to get you to come to." Evie explained.

"Oh, you guys go to that?"

"Is there a problem with that?" Jessie was getting defensive.

"N-No, I was just asking." Felix said. "That's great."

"That's why you should come too, Fee." I noticed Jessie had to resist the urge to laugh when she called him by the nickname. I never would have imagined that.

"Maybe," I got the feeling that Felix didn't really want to go. I wondered why, but I wasn't going to ask.

"So, Mister and…"

"Please Luke, it's Justin and Adelyn." I was corrected.

"Well Justin and Adelyn, what do you guys do?" I was curious. "For work."

"Justin works in a lab and Adelyn is a cook." Felix answered before they had the chance. "That's why her food's amazing."

"Yeah," Adelyn smiled. "I actually used to be a cook at this restaurant and that's where I met Justin." That sounded like a story.

"I knew the moment I met her that she was going to be my family." Justin added.

"Of course, we later came to the agreement that we wanted to foster kids," Adelyn said.

"So Luke, tell us about your family." Justin was interested. "You met Felix in care, correct?"

"Yeah we were in the same care home for a while," I was trying to forget. "But now I live with my mum, Sarah Jane, she fostered me a few months ago."

"I think that's wonderful that you think of her as your mum."

"She is." I never had a mum until I had her.

"I know, but you know, with fostering it takes a while before you settle in." I noticed her glance in Felix's direction. I guess she thinks he hasn't settled in since he did call them by their first names. I wondered if that bothered her. Then she started talking about how she always knew she wanted to foster kids. "I know a lot of people do it for the money there are people that can't have kids of their own, and don't misunderstand me, I can, but we wanted to give a home to kids that really need it."

"And we're really happy to have Felix and Evie in our home." Justin finished. "They've made it a real family."

"Can I be excused for a moment?" Felix asked and then went upstairs. I had the feeling that something was wrong.

"Is there a loo?"

"Upstairs to your right, second door." Justin told me and then I went upstairs. But instead of going to the toilet, I found Felix in his bedroom.

"Are you alright?" He looked upset.

"Yeah," Felix sighed. "Why'd you follow me?"

"I don't know," For some reason I was worried. "Are you sure you're alright?" I sat down next to him and he didn't look at me. "You're upset."

"I'm not." Felix lied. "I'll be back down in a minute."

"There's something wrong." I knew that for a fact. "Is it because she was talking about being a family? I thought you liked it here?"

"I do," Felix looked up. "I love it more than I could say but," He looked down and sniffled. Was he crying? "What if they find out what I was like before? Like all that stuff I did to you? I was an awful person. What if they find out and don't want me anymore?" I sat there, unable to respond as he started crying. I honestly was shocked. "I am really sorry, Luke. I was horrible to you."

"I had worse." I could say that.

"If you're trying to make me feel better, you suck at it."

"I don't think they would send you back, if that's what you're worried about." They didn't seem like they would.

"How do you know?"

"Well, if I'm willing to forgive you, then I'm sure if you talk to them, they'll want to help you."

"You forgive me?" Felix sounded surprised.

"Yeah, I do." I honestly didn't think I would, but I could see now how sorry he was. He at least deserved a chance.

"I think Evie knows I've been struggling—I'm just so mad at myself and other stuff."

"You should come to therapy and talk about it."

"That's what Evie says."

"She's right," I smiled slightly. "If you don't like it, you don't have to go back." I didn't think I would like it, but I did. It was nice being around those people. "You should come with her on Monday."

"Maybe I will." Felix smiled slightly. "And maybe I'll talk to Justin and Adelyn, I don't know."

"Well you know what they tell you?" I asked and he shook his head. "Only when you feel ready."

"We better get back down or they'll send a search party." Felix stood.

"Just think about it." I knew what bad foster parents were like and they seemed like good ones.

* * *

The rest of the dinner ended up going pretty well. I had to nudge Jessie to lighten up. Felix didn't need his foster parents asking questions, at least not right now. He needed to be able to explain on his own time and I think he would. The food ended up being brilliant and we had some nice conversations. And now I had the peace of not having to worry about Felix when I go to school.

I got up late the next morning and I found Maria downstairs.

"You got up late," She commented. "Late night?"

"I guess." I shrugged.

"How was everything?" Maria asked.

"It was good," I answered. "Really good." I could maybe see Felix being a friend, once we settled into this whole thing a bit more. It would take some getting used to given our history, but I had a feeling starting new would help. "It went really well."

"That's good." I noticed Maria's frown.

"What's wrong?"

"There's something I need to tell you—" Maria was cut off by her father coming in the house with some boxes.

"Maria, you really should start packing up your room." Mister Jackson stopped once he saw me. "Have you told him yet?"

"What's going on?" I asked. "Maria?"

"I'm moving to America."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Justin and Adelyn are portrayed by Scott Haran and Dani Harmer.

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted in 2017 on FFN. I apologize for any grammatical errors.


End file.
